“Will the unions help keep poor teachers from returning to the classroom?” asked Saturday’s Washington Post, reminding us that union intransigience stretches from Madison,WI to Washington, D.C. An independent arbitrator recently ruled that D.C. Public Schools will be required to hire back 75 teachers fired during Michelle Rhee’s tenure. On top of this, D.C. will also be required to pay two years in back wages, costing the city approximately $7.5 million. Although the dismissed teachers were still in their probationary period, arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum claims that they were improperly let …
Treating teachers like professionals, giving parents school choice, and using education dollars wisely: these three priorities frame the agenda of Students First, the newly established nonprofit headed by former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. The plan, released Tuesday on StudentsFirst.org and outlined by Rhee in The Wall Street Journal and an on Fox News Wednesday, provides further detail regarding the agenda, which she calls “a comprehensive set of policies and legislation that … create the right environment … where transformational school reform can take hold.” The three priorities are described …
Michelle Rhee’s tenure as D.C. Schools Chancellor ends Monday. In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, she and Mayor Adrian Fenty published an “Education Manifesto” summarizing their reform legacy and the breakthrough they hope it represents for other troubled school systems. Their rallying cry: Education policy should serve the needs of children, not the demands of adults. That conviction brought Rhee into direct conflict with the Washington Teachers’ Union as she sought to revive one of the worst school districts in the nation. Despite spending $18,000 annually per pupil, D.C. public schools …
Today, Michelle Rhee is expected to announce her resignation as D.C. Schools Chancellor. While speculation had been growing about her fate as the D.C. public schools head in the wake of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s primary loss last month, some who had their ear to the ground expected Rhee to stay in her chancellorship for some time. Since taking office two years ago, Rhee has fired hundreds of ineffective teachers and administrators, closed poor-performing schools, and reworked contracts to include performance pay. Not surprisingly, union opposition to Chancellor Rhee’s reforms has …
Soon after taking office in 2007, Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty took over the D.C. Public School System. In short order, he appointed Michelle Rhee as Chancellor of the underperforming, unsafe, and neglected school district. Rhee was viewed from the beginning as a force capable of improving a school system which had for decades been among the worst academic performers in the country. As predicted, the new chancellor immediately got to work implementing her aggressive reform agenda, which included firing ineffectual teachers and administrators, closing poor-performing schools, and reworking contracts …
Despite decades of union gridlock, the Washington, D.C., school board, with the help of school Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s leadership, has successfully contracted with teachers unions to implement performance pay. The contract with the Washington Teachers’ Union is a huge triumph for Rhee in her fight for education reform in our nation’s capital. Rhee has battled with teachers unions for nearly two years over the new contract. The agreement offers teachers more compensation in return for greater accountability in their students’ academic achievement. The contract will provide significant bonuses to teachers …
On Thursday, Senator Daniel Akaka [D-HI] convened an education sub-committee hearing on the state of reform in the D.C. public school system. D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee testified, and was met with both support and opposition. Over the past two years, she has brought sweeping reforms to the DCPS and has worked to reduce waste in the system. Despite her successes in a steep uphill battle, opponents of her reform efforts held signs reading “Oppose Rhee-form” outside of the committee hearing. While Rhee’s star-power garnered considerable attention during the …
After D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee met with both John McCain and President-elect Barack Obama during the campaign, both candidates tried to claim her as his own. Obama even called her a “wonderful new superintendent.” But since taking over the D.C. school system in June 2007, Rhee has battled the Washington Teachers’ Union for the right to fire ineffective teachers and reform the unions cumbersome tenure rules. While Rhee is a Democrat, she also knows which party has always favored teachers’ interests over students’ education. Explaining why she ended up …
