http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/us/07rhee.html?scp=7&sq=public%20schools&st=cse
Michelle Rhee, former School's Chancellor for Washington, DC, appeared on Oprah earlier this week and announced that she has started her own non-profit organization, StudentsFirst, to address our nation's declining education system. Michelle became known for her reputation of firing teachers during her tenure in Washington, D.C. for poor performance. Michelle's announcement came after the results of a recent study found that the US is severely lagging behind other countries in regard to education, and ranked 23rd or 24th in most subjects. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?scp=1&sq=pisa&st=cse
The mission of StudentsFirst is "to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system". http://www.studentsfirst.org/
While I do need to learn more about Michelle Rhee's actual plan of action, anyone brave enough to take on such an enormous leadership role to make a serious attempt at improving our nation's education system deserves to be applauded.
Deanne
Also interesting about Michelle Rhee is that when she was asked about why she didn't become chancellor for another school district she said she thought she could do more by becoming part of an interest group that represents children. Although she was a great leader for DC she may have even more of a chance to make an impact through this interest group. Here she is on the Colbert Report talking about it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/366994/december-01-2010/michelle-rhee
Farah
Rhee is an impressive and visionary figure to be sure, but it is important to note that did not leave her position as DC Chancellor voluntarily--she was voted out. Why? Rhee is prone to politicizing decisions and is not a master of the human resources frame. She is fixated on structural issues, despite the fact education is fraught with political and symbolic challenges.
ReplyDeleteIn DC, Rhee was committed to firing poor performing teachers and recruiting Teach for America recruits. Good structural ideas, right? Unfortunately, many Teach for America recruits are white, and many of the poor performing teachers Rhee fired were black. Most of DC's voters are black. Natalie Hopkinson of the Atlantic discusses the symbolism: Rhee was "giving benefit of the doubt to inexperienced white teachers" over African-Americans, which was like "swooping into town to "fix" the "Other" like the Peace Corps." Mastering these tricky symbols and racial politics is difficult but necessary if Rhee is to affect real change in her new advocacy position.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/why-michelle-rhees-education-brand-failed-in-dc/63014/
Sean