Educational Leaders: Michelle Rhee

This post covers Michelle Rhee. You may want to read the introduction to the series; this is the first educational leader explored.
But the question that I ask to them is 'Whose children are we going to put in the classroom of ineffective teachers next year?' My two kids go to DCPS. I'm not willing to put my kids in those classrooms, and I don't think any parents anywhere in this city should be forced to make that decision. -Michelle Rhee

Michelle Rhee is more than an educational leader to Washington DC citizens. If Rhee realizes her goals for schools, she will shape more than school systems; she will forever change American ideals about poverty, the class system and children. People who know her believe she will succeed, and her low failure rate supports her future victory. Her educational philosophy centers on changing hard-held educational beliefs that fail students. Rhee replaces outdated and failing principles with large investments in her students. She wants all students to attend a school that gives them a future regardless of their homes, and districts' boundary lines on a map.

Current Job
Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools system.

Accomplishments

• Rhee founded The New Teacher Project (TNTP) in 1997. TNTP partners with school districts and states "to implement scalable responses to their most acute teacher quality challenges."


• 70% of her public school systems' students receive free or reduced lunches, well above the national average. These students' test scores are uncharacteristically high: in one school, student reading proficiency went from 24% to 85% and from 10 percent to 64 percent in math, all in four years.


• She created a voluntary merit-pay system for DC teachers; teachers can earn six-figure salaries.

Criticisms

• Rhee believes in holding teachers accountable for student success and many educators debate linking job employment to students' standardized testing. In July 2010, she fired 241 teachers who did not meet expectations.


• Many question her teachers' evaluative tool (IMPACT). Teachers question if five 30-minute evaluations per year are substantial enough.


• In previous years, she has fired numerous administrators and teachers, as well as closed some DC schools. Residents complained she did so without openness.


• Rhee often squabbles with union leaders concerning teacher pay and firings.

Rhee takes more than a no-excuse attitude toward education; her attitude is unforgiving toward those making or accepting mediocre education, anywhere, for any students. Most educators share her focus on ending poverty through education. The difference is that while teachers admit defeat as they continue throughout the education system, Rhee sees situations that challenge her focus as fuel. Her revolutionary actions have more than "shaken-up" education through her hiring and firing processes; she leads a crusade and may be the jump education needs.

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