Jason Stanford, a first-rate journalist in a texas, looks for the lessons in the meteoric rise and astonishing descent of Michelle Rhee.
The major lesson, he says, is not so much about her as about the deep flaws in the test-and-punish philosophy she embodied. Putting the squeeze on subordinates to raise test scores leads to all sorts of negative consequences, but not to good education.
The flaw is inherent in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
Until we get a better vision of education, there will be more Beverly Halls and Michelle Rhees.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Eli and Edythe Broad – two of the biggest threats to public education in this country –
have published an editorial in favor the Educational Achievement Authority here in Michigan. The EAA will be a statewide district run by the State and completely unaccountable to anyone. In fact, they recently received a secret $6 million dollar loan, something that was only discovered because a state representative filed a FOIA request for information. Think about how ridiculous that is – someone who have to vote on the EAA can’t get information from them without filing a FOIA request! The Broads, along with Rhee, have been throwing money around here is order to get this monstrosity passed. It passed the State House by a thin margin, but the Republicans have a larger majority in the Senate.
http://www.freep.com/comments/article/C4/20130428/OPINION05/304280058/Education-Eli-and-Edythe-Broad-Michigan-Education-Acheivement-Authority
Is anyone else having trouble posting comments to this Free Press article? I tried posting the following comment:
I keep getting a message that says some of its content is considered abusive. I tried 5 or 6 variants with different words, but I can’t for the life of me figure out which of the above words might a No-No for the Free Press.
Copy and paste your comment here into an email to the editors, and maybe post it to a couple of discussion boards like Reddit too. Even if they don’t allow the comment, you’ll have a greater reach.
The Free Press is totally bought. Didn’t you hear about the professor from Wayne St. who had critical info about how test scores had fallen under the EM (and spending). The Fress Press editorial board refused to print it. Lower level people were set to print it and then the editorial board said “no”. What does that tell you? Do not buy the Free Press. Haven’t you seen all the propaganda articles about charters??
The EAA is the biggest sham ever. Start digging and interviewing teachers. Tons have left. Does he need the EAA to keep his ego intact? It’s just plain awful and they are trying to expand it. It just shows how bought out the politicans are in this country.
I’m not really convinced that she’s fallen yet, and I’m not holding my breath. I think she’s still too useful for her overlords – too big to fail, as it were.
If she was the self-driven leader of a wrong-headed grassroots movement, she’d be toast with just the testing scandal.
But being astroturf for big enough players means never having to say you’re sorry.
It seems that more and more people are convinced that the test-and-punish philosophy, or at least in its current form, does not work. What are the alternatives that have been proposed?
Shouldn’t we judge how effective an education system is also (if not primarily) by how much students enjoy the experience of learning and being challenged? I feel this is especially crucial for K-12, when it is perhaps most important to help the students form good learning habits that will last throughout their lifetime.
“Readiness for college/work” does not have to mean that a student already possesses all the necessary skills and knowledge, but rather should mean sufficient exposure to how various knowledge domains are interrelated, and the ability to learn what is needed when it is needed.
Isn’t this why we educate our children?
The executioners of democracy have been building their scaffold for 30 years at least. I think it’s a little too early to start cheering just because one of them dropped one of his tools.
She has definitely not fallen, we are stuck with her in Tennessee.
Keep fighting and never give him. She has all the big money behind her. It’s all a sham
give in (i mean)
Nothing about Rhee and her approach is novel, of course. Go back to Texas, starting in 1998 with the election of GW Bush as Governor. As a teacher in the Houston area, I experienced the advent of trickle-down test management. Superintendents would put quota-like expectations on sub-district leaders, who would do the same to school principals, would do the same to their teachers. The climate of public schooling was one big ponzi scheme, which sapped teachers of their expertise and school leaders of both their dignity and their talents to organize effective school communities.
“…reforming our schools in hopes of replicating an illusion is a petty crime against humanity.”
Gets to the heart of it ; but doesn’t feel “petty” from here in the (second grade) trenches.
The “fall” of Rhee?? Did I miss hearing that hell froze over??? She is just as powerful as she ever was because the media is protecting her.
Fall? Nope. If it ever happens, it will be more like a gentle descent via a glittering golden parachute.
This writer does not even know what the revenue/student is. In D.C. it is $29,145/student X 52,000 students = $1.8 billion. D.C., according to a city councilman we heard live at UCLA two weeks ago, has 40% of its students in charter schools which equals 20,800. It is published that they pay charter schools $13,000 less/student than for the regular schools. 20,800 X $13,000 = $274 million into someones pockets. Looking interesting isn’t it. You mean to tell me this person knows what they are talking about and they do not know this?
Rhee and those like her are first of all slaves for Walton, Gates, the “Broadfather et al. They are the “Shot Callers” as they call them in the prison structure not Rhee, Deasy and such. They merely are the front people for their RICO operations in schools and government as are many mayors, city council people, superintendents and board members. I think it is reasonable to believe, especially in the large revenue districts, that people are having deposites in offshore accounts. How else can something like this happen? Rhee, and if proven, those who call her shots should be charged with criminal violations and if convicted beyond a reasonable doubt sentenced with jail time just like the common criminals they are. In fact, they are worse than common criminals as they effect many peoples lives and the future societal costs incurred as a result.
If the people could see what is happening to their tax money they would be shocked. A lot of people in the suburbs don’t really know what is happening. Our politicians are completely worthless. Look at what Duncan said while this woman had led to a 52% turnover in staff in 4 yrs and a cheating scandal. What a worthless bunch of people. I really wish some people would go to jail because this is truly a theft of tax dollars and property. Disgusting.
This is very TYPICAL of brand new teachers. They come into the classroom with their “pie-in-the-sky” ideals and college book learning, ready to tackle the classroom. It’s actually somewhat narcissistic. You have to come into the classroom feeling that you have something to offer… so your ego sustains you… but it can also get the best of you. The first thing that happens to a TRULY GROWING teacher is that the profession humbles you. In the beginning, the children start to grasp some of the concepts you teach… you get that “high”… that sense of, “WOW! They get it! I did a good job!” Then the reality hits… they get it for that minute… or that test… but then, they don’t know how to apply it. You and Bloom’s Taxonomy are now ready for a heavy-duty meeting. How to get your kids to apply, analyze, synthesize, evaluate… hmmmm? Michelle Rhee is a BEGINNING teacher… she didn’t stay long enough in the profession to grow or to let it humble her… her narcissism continued to grow, out of control… to the point where she inflated her test scores… another ego trip early teachers often take (MY kids did so well! – implying that the teacher is “all that”… when it’s usually a peak before a valley… after which, the REAL teaching begins – which is day in, day out, incremental progress)… . So, instead of staying in teaching, and actually LEARNING how to become a master teacher, she’s spreading and inflicting her idealistic, pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic, untested, know-it-all non-sense to folks in education who KNOW BETTER! Rhee is a beginning teacher with an out of control ego who is trying to tell veterans how to teach! That goes for all people who are outside of the profession… unless they’re in it for the long haul, what they have to add to the discussion on education deserves little merit.