Michelle Rhee is Hardcore
For me, doing this TIME story on DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a revelation. I knew our schools were troubled, but I hadn’t realized the compounded effects of all that mediocrity. I hadn’t known that a child who has three bad teachers for three years in a row really never recovers. I had not realized that the difference in test scores between white and minority kids goes away--totally vanishes--if they both have effective teachers for a few years.
Once I understood that, I started to feel the same urgency Rhee and a lot of teachers and principals feel. I remember walking through an elementary school in DC with her, smiling down at the kids in their crisp school uniforms, and feeling the weight of every minute that ticked by without any learning happening. Until I spent time talking to kids--in their classrooms, in their homes, in front of their schools--I never appreciated just how much of our children’s time we waste. Nobody understands the problems of a school system as well as the students who are in it.
Rhee herself could be a little frightening, depending on her mood. She has a level of confidence--some might say arrogance--that is surprising. Most women--even women in power--want on some level to be liked. Not Rhee. I kind of admire that about her, even as I wonder whether it will ultimately be her undoing. As I told a friend of mine after finishing up a day with Rhee: I wouldn’t want to work for Michelle Rhee. But I’d like her to be my kid’s superintendent.
john said on December 01, 2008 at 4:13 am
We need a woman like that in are local school in udon thani Thailand the whole system is a complete waste of are kids time
If we where paying directly for it I would just keep them at home
Sometimes even a bad education is better then none at all
Scott R. Carey said on December 01, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Stop perpetuating the one sided teacher bashing argument. Did anyone other than me see all of the things alluded to but not fairly reported in a balance manner like irresponsible parents who are not held accountable? They are the other half of the problem. It is not just bad teachers and principals. If you are being raised by the grandparents of wolves how can you be expected to learn in school and keep up? Want to report a story? Report on how those kids are being raised or not.
Joan Jaeckel said on December 03, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Hi Amanda. I invite you to question if it’s really true that you want someone you wouldn’t want to work for to have anything to do with your kid. You want someone people hate and are afraid of to be in a position to influence your child? Kids are emotional sponges soaking in and ultimately copying the behaviour/attitudes of the adults around them. As Parker Palmer says, “we teach who we are”. Our schools don’t need saving. Our children need saving from our schools. Teachers don’t need to be fired. Teachers need to be allowed to be fired up. When fired up teachers are freed to teach children instead of teaching standards our educational system will begin to educate instead of just teach.
Foro Applesana said on December 03, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Parents are also important in the education of children. Teachers can not do everything
Best reagards Amanda
Caroline said on December 08, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi Amanda. I have a question. It’s evident that Rhee phonied up her claim about her so-called miracle success in her early-’90s Baltimore teaching experience . She has previously, repeatedly cited very specific, unbelievably miraculous numbers, claiming that she took a class from 13th percentile average on standardized tests to 90th percentile, and that her achievement was hailed by the Wall Street Journal and Good Morning America.
At least one blogger, the “Daily Howler,” has been challenging Rhee’s claim for some time (including the claimed numbers and the claims about the WSJ and GMA). Rhee scaled back those claims when she spoke to you and was less specific and grandiose about this supposed success.
It seems quite evident that this woman lied on her resume, and the fact that she changed her story when she spoke to you backs that up. Isn’t it usually a scandal when a public official like that lies on her resume? How come the press lets her get away with it scot-free? And what exactly did her former principal say to back up whichever version Rhee was telling at that moment?
Bill said on December 08, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I also wonder about your comment “I wouldn’t want to work for Michelle Rhee. But I’d like her to be my kid’s superintendent.” Is this the best way to motivate, or not even motivate but not unmotivate (I feel MOST teachers are highly motivated), our teachers to do the best job possible? I agree her methods are a good way of removing ineffective teachers/administrators and bring about change in a district that desperately needed change, but in the process she may send away effective teachers unless salaries are high enough to warrant putting up with her.
Also, about liking Rhee. You say you admire Rhee, which I guess on some level means you like her. I feel in order for a student to learn from someone, she must like that person on at least some level. He/She must have some respect for the person, which means there is at least some aspect of the teaching/character that is liked. Without this, a teacher is shut off and can’t teach much. Is Rhee modeling this for our teachers? Is this important to be modeled for our teachers (I believe it is - everything starts at the top).
I think it will be interesting to see if she is able to sustain things with her current manner.
Fernando Herranz said on December 12, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Why was class size treated like a minor irritant in your article? Why are the PROBLEMS IN education (not “problem of education") focused solely on teachers? Parenting did not even make it into the article, except to mention Rhee’s kids’ teachers getting fired by her. Students’ upbringing didn’t get mentioned, and neither did their economic backgrounds. Corrupt school and municpal officials have a good deal to do with wasted money not spent on hiring additional teachers to lower class size and give students the materials and texts they need. Union busting and school privatization are the new mantras that promise to give us “pie in the sky” education, but won’t deliver because it doesn’t deal with families’ home problems that influence learning, and doesn’t help struggling teachers improve their teaching. It only really benefits politicians wanting to enlarge their coffers with our higher taxes, but not give that money back to us in REAL better education. Rhee is a superstar of the corporate privatizers.
Caroline said on December 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Hi Ms. Ripley. Aside from being curious about the issue of Rhee’s not-credible claims on her resume, I have another question. Suddenly Eric Hanushek’s research (for the right-wing partisan Hoover Institution*, NOT Stanford itself, by the way) pops up in both Time and the New Yorker, to bolster the sudden notion that making it easier to fire bad teachers is the miracle cure for the woes of urban public education.
I’m curious about the outreach Hoover did that got through so effectively to both you and the New Yorker’s superstar Malcolm Gladwell. How did Hoover manage that?
(The Hoover Institution is an advocacy organization whose “research” is entirely aimed at backing up its advocacy positions—in this case anti--public education and anti-teacher, especially anti-teachers’ unions. The press is forever falling for the notion that this is “academic research.” It’s not.)
Dan M said on December 18, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Your article about Ms. Rhee was/is the print equivalent of one of those infomercials about Tony Robbins that used to play at midnight. Reading it has left me thunderstruck with horror at the both you and the editorial staff at Time would allow this to be passed off as a balanced, fair look at the complex, nuanced, and daunting problems faced by public school teachers.
Shame on you.
Julie Dearborn said on January 09, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Yes Amanda,
Michell Rhee does children a disservice by blaming their lack of academic success only on teacher tenure. And you do them a disservice by perpetuating this myth. The entire media is getting the story on education all wrong. I am a teacher and I know how hard it is and how many factors are at work - including the motivation of the child and the reality that one rude, out of control child can infect an entire class - Ms. Rhee taught for two years and how she knows everything about education and you believe her?
You should be ashamed for not doing better research.
Kevin M. said on February 05, 2009 at 9:03 pm
“Yes, Amanda. I also would like Michelle Rhee to be my kid’s superintendent. We all need such a leader like her in local schools. I have 2 questions.
1. By firing bad teachers and paying good ones much higher salaries, is that enough to save D.C schools?
2. When bad teachers are fired, are there well-qualified teachers in waiting?
Thank you very much.”
Jack C said on March 22, 2009 at 1:47 am
I am uncomfortable with the way teachers are treated, always blamed for students not performing, etc, etc. Just how long did the Rhee spend in the classroom making a difference. I’ve been there for almost 17 years, rain or shine, late into the wee hours working with students or on their behalf. When do we get a break from this type of abuse. Lets put some of the burden on parents. I did not allow my kids to get away with not studying or doing their homework, why do some parents not take responsibility for the kids they bring into the world.
JesseAlred said on April 18, 2009 at 12:29 am
Wendy Kopp--like her friends, our nation’s selfish corporate bosses, and the people Teach for America has placed in school-district leadership positions--preaches, but does not practice, accountability when she claims Teach For America and its branches, the KIPP and YES charter schools, have done anything of substance to close the achievement gap. Blaming teachers, rather than supporting them, is something new to the United States of America.
Education professors argue whether 40% or 20% of TFA teachers remain in school past the required two-year period of service, but neither advocates nor enemies of TFA have presented ANY evidence of them improving the academic results of significant numbers of students. Michelle Rhee’s desire to fire hard-working teachers, and replace them with spoiled short-termers, represents interest-group politics rather than common sense.
The only argument they have comes from the outstanding perfomance of kids at KIPP and YES, and these students attend charter schools after their families have made application to schools they know have longer school days; extended school years; mandatory Saturday classes; and loads of homework.
Teach For America performs a public service by placing good students in poor communities, no doubt; and its spinoff charter schools provide a quality education for kids whose ambitious families. But the theory that TFA youngsters, and firing the teachers we have, will make all inner-city students high achievers, well, how stupid do you Ivy Leaguers think the rest of us are?
JesseAlred said on April 19, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The achievement gap in our country unfortunately reflects the fact we have the greatest disparity of wealth in the western world.
Why do public schools do great in affluent urban neighborhoods, fine in the suburbs, yet they fail wherever poor people are.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See
After twenty years of teaching in the inner city, some teachers are definitely burnt out, but did they start that way, and should they be blamed now for student failure.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See.
The media loves Teach for America alums, and paints these Ivy Leaguers as underdogs. Journalists are often from the same class, share the same neoliberal views, but do they KNOW, understand, the realities of the urban school classroom?
Kopp Rhee Can’t See.
Professors have tenure, teachers in rich communities have tenure. Suburban teachers have tenure The students in those places do fine. Will eliminating tenure make students more committed, or will it make teachers more timid.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See.
Close schools rather than improve them. Fire teachers rather than inspire them. Michelle Rhee text messaging.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See.
Compared to families, schools are weak institutions for shaping indiviudal behavior.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See
I hope this generation of elites are not so stupid. We need to give families hope in concrete ways. More equality and family security. These are the foundations for school reform.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See
Teach for America and its alums have launched a coporate-sponsored, well-marketed Ivy Leage class war against the teachers who work in our nation’s toughest schools. They want to be given top positions in administration and school boards.
Kopp Rhee Can’t See what most Americans have always known that teachers are usually advocates of improved student performance not enemies
piskodrocho said on July 09, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I want to listen good music!
scilf said on August 12, 2010 at 11:45 am
This blog was a real eye opener for me. I was shocked to read that a child who has had three bad teachers for three years in a row will really never recover. I really wonder what is going to happen in the case of my kid. In fact my wife has been complaining that the quality of the education that he receives is not up to the mark. But I have been ignoring her. Now I have decided to shift my kid to a better school. I would like to thank the author for giving me this vital information.
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