I was invited by Frontline to offer reactions to the documentary about Michelle Rhee. I was disappointed that the documentary did not mention that Rhee is now working on behalf of a far-right agenda of privatization; that Washington Teachers Union President George Parker now works for StudentsFirst; that Rhee’s “miraculous gains” as a teacher in Baltimore have been discredited. But I had space limitations. So this was my commentary:
I watched John Merrow’s documentary on “The Education of Michelle Rhee” with high anticipation. I wanted to see what she had learned from her experience, and what lessons there might be for the nation.
The documentary emphasizes her steely determination to do whatever she thought necessary to turn around the Washington, D.C. school system. She fired principals; she fired teachers; she closed schools. She told every principal that he or she must set a target for raising test scores. If they met it, their schools would win thousands of dollars; if they didn’t, they risked termination. She tied teachers’ evaluation to student test scores.
Rhee assumes that better test scores equal better education. She never once mentions literature or history or science or civics or foreign languages; she doesn’t talk about curriculum or instruction. She never calls out a teacher for poor instruction or a principal for a weak curriculum; she is interested only in the bottom line, and that is the scores.
The problem, of course, is that focusing obsessively on test scores has predictable results: narrowing the curriculum (some districts and schools have dropped the arts and other subjects to make more time for testing); cheating; teaching to the tests; and distorting the whole education system for the sake of scores. Our best public and private schools would never dream of making test scores their goal. They know that a real education includes the arts, history, science, literature, foreign languages and physical education. Their parents expect nothing less.
Unfortunately, Rhee cared only about test scores, not a balanced curriculum. By the end of the documentary we learn that the public schools in D.C. improved “slightly” on national tests but “are still among the worst in the nation,” and its high school graduation rate is dead last. We learn that her relentless focus on test scores produced allegations of widespread cheating, not better education. Her policy of firing teachers and principals did not turn around the schools; it created turmoil. Every year, about 20% of the teachers (including those she hired) leave, and most of the principals she hired have moved on.
The only logical conclusion from this documentary is that states and districts should not do what Michelle Rhee did. It didn’t work. It failed. Rhee, however, remains unfazed. She’s taken her reform agenda to the national stage and is now urging states to follow her lead.
True educational leadership involves a commitment to children and to education (not just test scores), a dedication to improving curriculum and instruction, and the ability to recruit and develop a strongstaff. That is the kind of leadership I saw when I visited Finland, a nation whose students never take standardized tests yet do very well on international assessments.
Thankfully, such leadership is hardly absent in the U.S. In schools all across the nation, I have come across countless unsung educators who build teamwork and a culture of professionalism. They create a climate of respect built on wisdom and judgment, not carrots and sticks.
Josh Starr tweeted: ‘We have to move away from superintendent-as-savior mental model. It’s about the community and system.1 person can’t do it alone”
And that one person will NEVER by Rhee. That we all know for sure.
Read Gregory Michie’s WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO.
Bravo. Rhee is a fraud.
RhEE was able to teach students the so called teachers posting here couldn’t. SUch an indictment of her critics.
The real educators of the USA should be the ones to lead not Rhee.
They tell the bee story, but leave out the duct tape story. She brushes off the investigation saying we hired them and that’s what we were told. She could have asked for a more thorough process; she didn’t.
Notice how her mother told her: you don’t seem to care what people think; I am afraid you won’t make friends.
She had no idea what he meant by compassion. She looked completely confused by the term. I am starting to think the sociopathic terms does apply to this hollow human.
By the way, she didn’t lose the job she loved. She left because she wouldn’t have total control and she would have to report to a governing body. Please, tell the truth once in a while Michelle.
Connecticut is hoping for an F next year…we will work hard to reach our goal.
Would you rather RHEE taught or anyone of those hapless losers she had to fire. Hiring teachers based on personality or who they know simply destroys children.
Teachers need to be DEDICATED to the children FIRST and foremost
Thank you for this.
Totally sickened. Nothing of real substance was discussed and the cheating scandal was just tossed aside. This was nothing but a puff piece on a woman who turned her back on the rampant cheating and obviously had someone high up watching her back. But there was a good 15 minutes of teacher bashing. The title should have been “Saint Michelle”.
Paid for by Bill and Melinda.
And approved by ALEC and Walmart.
Wonder how many teachers and administrators were involved in cheating? Its discusting to hear people berate Rhee but are ok with a rats nest of morally reprehensible monsters pretending to care about the children.
BUT that is where we have moved I guess.
LONG life the cheaters and blackhearted in our education system. Of course what difference does it make in DC? No one really cares about the children there, just the comfort of the adults in charge.
And why was her biographer’s opinion most of the show??
When I saw the constant demand on teachers and principals I couldn’t help but believe that it must have been an absolute living hell to work in DC schools under Rhee. She was obviously not qualified for a job of that status. She was nothing but a hack sent in to help experiment on children. When the program showed the one high school that was basically out of control, it made me sick that Rhee implied that this was the result of an incompetent staff. This school is squarely a reflection of the community and not the teachers. Anyone who implies that this school was the result of low expectations of the educators is living in a dream. Rhee’s policies were a complete failure and her overall movement is a fraud. This experiment should have been ended in DC and not given the funding to expand. Shameful.
“This school is squarely a reflection of the community and not the teachers”
YEP, its the parents not the teachers. LOL. Yet her detractors continually say it was the teachers and administrators who helped the children cheat. WOW. How many faces to her critics wear in a day?
It is interesting to note that after Rhee left… Noyes Elementary… in 2010 was reporting 54% of their 4th graders meeting the state standards… IN 2011… that same cohort had only 17% meeting 5th grade standards… all of the other grades did the same thing… either they all went dumb… or there was rampant cheating… you decide.
Yep. Those teachers and administrators were cheating their hearts out. SUCH dispicable people being in charge of our children.
Rhee needed to fire those people too.
BUT teacher unions have to support their members regardless of the damage they have done.
Educating Rheeta …
Yet another fine example in the FRUNTLAME tradition of Nerf™ Ball Journalism.
Was there anything in that report that wasn’t common knowledge in the more informed social media 1 or 2 years ago?
This isn’t directly about Rhee but an interesting letter written by a teacher in Michigan that really sheds light on the ideas that Rhee is promoting and how it affects teachers.
http://www.findcatharsis.com/2013/01/an-open-letter-to-gov-rick-snyder-regarding-teachers/
How much more does this nonsense have to go on?
Notice she never says how much she makes? Just vague statements.
People need to face the fact that PROGRESSIVE education is neither progressive nor an education.
My sister teaches foreign born students. Her classes always meet or exceed state standards despite the fact she only gets them for the one year. She works her ass off even preppting substitutes. She would make Rhee look like a pauper compared to her unrelenting pushing and prodding of the children … despite the fact many of the parents never come in.
she workes with other teachers with the attitudes expressed thorughout this site that it is a good salary, nice boss, not too much demand that counts. Children are just sort of people you have to deal with throughout the day.
I agree with school gal about the teacher bashing. Disgusted with Frontline for promoting such crap. There goes my PBS donation.
Yes, when I get the call this year from the local station…no thanks…Bill and Melinda should suffice. I am done!
John Merrow is a propagandist for “reformers.” Anybody who thinks the mess called the New Orleans Recovery District is a good thing deserves derision. Just like his hero Michelle Rhee.
Go to Frontline and check out the comments. Rhee is getting some new followers. Please flood the site with comments supporting teachers and public education.
Actually, Donna, I suspect these are the Paid Functionaries of Rhee; the same people who have been cutting and pasting their Bogus Talking Points for several years now.
Now, it’s up to US, the informed public, to sink our teeth into this still simmering cover-up and INSIST that it get the attention it deserves.
Rhee will NOT have an easy time, avoiding discussions of the truth on the road. Contact your local journalists; send them links; let them know that a HUGE story is out there, waiting for the first intrepid, diligent journalist who wants to go and get it the story that will make their name forever!
There are only 7 comments on the Frontline site right now and just a couple are from Rhee supporters. I would suggest adding comments, so that Frontline knows people recognize their shoddy “investigative journalism” on this matter. I would not have guessed it from them, so it really makes me rethink how they may have approached other issues as well. Very disappointed in them.
I was disappointed as well. My commentary is here:
I want to commend you on your brilliant investigative journalism. While watching the documentary I anticipated your presence as your exposing Rhee has been the definitive take on her tenure in education. When you never appeared I knew this was an absolute farce.
I have taken the information you provided and have spread it to as many people as possible. It is an action I will continue to do in the face of the billionaire privatization propaganda campaign.
There are powerful forces building up this person who has very little experience in teaching, never was a principal and was not qualified to run a school district. Frontline gave us the cute bee story, but didn’t include this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/08/13/VI2010081305444.html
They also did not disclose that Rhee has been on the Board of the Broad Foundation for many years, including when she was Chancellor of DC schools. Others on the Board while she has been there have been Arne Duncan (before he became Secretary of Education) and Joel Klein (while he as Chancellor of NYC schools). The Broad Foundation through its Superintendents Academy has trained hundred of superintendents around the country in how to privatize urban public schools.
I wonder if the state legislatures in Massachusetts and Maryland could formulate laws that would require superintendets to be “highly qualified” in such a way that Broad “graduates” would not satisfy. That one had to have been a public school teacher for x number of years and a principal for y number of years.
I’m very disappointed that the greatest criticism offered was the DC testing scandal, and only took up about five minutes. This is not true investigative reporting.
Thankfully, though, I watched it on my iPhone, and won’t have to stay up till 11:00 on a school night to see it on TV. Blessings come in the most unlikely ways.
You are so right. There are so many other issues that should have been presented, that deal with the larger issues of privatization, union busting, a nationwide right wing agenda, and children living in poverty. I’d like to write more but I’m off to school!
Merrow has another program that will be airing in March about how well NOLA is doing under “reform”. Another stamp of approval from Gates!! I won’t be giving a cent to PBS either. I think Gates can handle all our contributions. My time with them will only be on Sunday nights at 9pm.
After they said that the program was funded by the usual John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you, there was an individual funder named, which I tried to remember, but it being about the latest I’ve stayed up in probably a decade, I’ve already forgotten it. Can anyone remember the name? Does anyone know who he is?
On a completely unrelated note, did anyone notice the recreation area (basically a fenced basketball court) at the Noyes campus? I’ve seen other recreation areas like that. At prisons.
Anyway, I can’t add much more to Diane’s brilliant analysis, so I’ll bid you all good night.
What a snooze fest. All that fawning over Rhee literally put me to sleep, but I had my DVR set on record.
The name at the end is John Gunn. Looked him up but there were way too many people with that name. Anyone know who this guy might be?
There were some telling moments in the show. When she allowed the film crew to video tape her firing that principal – wow. Her staff member who claimed that 50% of the teachers didn’t believe children could succeed – another wow. The program also showed she cares only about achievement and none of the other things that make children live productive lives – health care, social services, nutritious foods, adequate recreation, healthy families. I’ve been a teacher in an urban system for 30 years and the most successful schools I have worked in were the ones led by principals who worked as hard at providing wrap around services as they did at creating productive instructional environments. Michelle Rhee has yet to see the importance of teaching the whole child. And that is her greatest failure.
Okay, I lied – one more comment before I go to bed. When analyzing any sort of media presentation, it’s important to notice whose voice are we hearing and whose voice(s) aren’t we hearing. Obviously we heard a lot from Rhee, her biographer and Fenti. We heard minimally from a few teachers and principals who opposed her. Who we didn’t hear from was parents. I don’t recall any parent voices either way. I guess it’s a given that we’re not going to hear real-life horror stories of parents and kids whose lives were made miserable by Rhee’s policies. But it does seem like, if Rhee were half the miracle she’s portrayed herself to be, there would be parents banging down the door wanting to tell how she transformed their children’s lives. That silence speaks volumes.
Thank you, Diane!
Of course the USDOE rules there was no cheating..they are vested in welfare of the testers and their cohorts the same way the D.C. examiners were….Frontline cast some doubt on the test results, but let her off the hook by not examining her Students First funders and their relationship to Wall Street and the public school privatization edushysters….
Diane, I totally agree with your analysis of Frontline’s piece on Michelle Rhee’s tenure in DC. As a member of Change the Stakes (thanks for your post re: CTS yesterday!), I so appreciate your focusing on Rhee’s misguided obsession with test scores.
But what struck me most as I watched the Frontline documentary was Rhee’s sense of self-righteousness. She seems to have seen herself as some sort of savior of DC’s public schools — she demanded that teachers, principals and agency staff be held “accountable.” Yet she seemed to place herself above “accountability,” as if she had some God-given right to decide what was best for DC public schools!
People like Michelle Rhee, who are so sure of their own unsubstantiated views, are dangerous. She’s a zealot. As a public school parent, I want the Michelle Rhee’s of the world to go away and I want control of education to be returned to REAL educators!
Good Point Nancy. If Michelle had been held accountable for taping the mouths of her students shut, we wouldn’t be having this dicussion about her now.
Ed. reform is sexy and elicits passion among educated elites. Sociopathic is a good word to descibe her. She’s basically a media whore
I feel it’s important to give my impression of the Frontline episode.
And I will preface this by saying I’m not in the education field, and I have no children. I had never heard of Rhee before, and knew nothing about the DC thing or anything about her. I didn’t even look at the “preview” before watching the Frontline on broadcast (over the air) television tonight on my local PBS station.
And I’ve heard for many years rumours about the corruption & nepotism in local school boards in my area. Many people I went to school with who became teachers had to leave the area because they could not get jobs in the public schools locally. General belief is people who are not “connected” don’t get jobs as teachers around here.
Besides, in any profession, public or private, all the top career advice is always “networking”. So obviously this idea isn’t too far fetched that people get hired because of who they know, not how qualified they are!! And nepotism isn’t anything unusual.
So watching this Frontline…
At first, I thought hmmm… Is Rhee an advocate of getting rid of corruption and nepotism? Is that Frontline’s interest in covering this story? (Seemed a bit weak, but I had no clue what this Frontline was about.)
It seemed that maybe she really was cleaning up some administrative problems and stagnant schools with problems.
The woman she brought in as a stop gap principle seemed sharp as a whip, and really dedicated to her job. Looked like a good choice to me!
Looked like things were going well.
But as the program progressed, it was like a drum beat of crack after crack.
And I keep waiting for them to cover some of the actual educational programmes in these schools. Like what actual programmes were being implemented seemed to just be skipped over for the most part. Where’s the education? That’s what I’m starting to wonder… Where’s the education in a story about education?
Then she dismisses out of hand parents’ opinions, or the communities’ views, or anything. Basically saying it was not their business how their kids schools are run.
That was disturbing, and topped off by her own comment about how her mother worried about the fact that she didn’t care what anybody thought of her, and that she really wasn’t phased by any criticism. That’s just not normal.
Then she fires the principle on camera. That’s just not normal.
Worse, when asked if she felt any compassion for the person she was firing, she seemed genuinely confused about why someone would ask something like that, and it was like it took her a long time to think about “the right answer”… and her answer in the end just wasn’t… it was contrary to any reaction you’d expect from someone.
Then, I started noticing how as the programme progresses, they show more interview clips where she pauses from an interview question, At the beginning, they seemed to show just her “best side” and well shown interview clips, etc.
But more & more, there are “pauses” left in the edit, and the expression on her face just before & after her answers give a different impression than what she’s saying. Like she’ll half smile quickly at a rather serious and insulting accusatory question. Most people being grilled that way don’t smirk & smile or look amused when asked pointed questions. They have a deadpan answer prepared. Or they look insulted by the question and maybe a bit angry… She looked amused! Or at best indifferent.
By this point every clip of her was really making me uncomfortable. Despite her coming off as rather competent and fairly likable at first.
Then we find out about all the eraser marks on the tests that were way above statistically probable, in just the schools that had improved so drastically.
Then we find out that the sharp stop gap principle from the tough school was just up & fired… ??? That woman seemed brilliant! Why was she fired? She hired her in the first place! And there’s zero explanation.
AH then it dawned on me… the innuendo here was that she was not willing to cook the tests! So she was fired.
At this point I realize the expose is clearly to show that she came in, people thought she was getting rid of corruption and bad administration in the schools – or hoped… But really, she was just bringing her own corruption in. She was the corruption, in the guise of cleaning it up!!
Because this school district’s problem was NOT corruption.
This district’s problem is SERIOUS POVERTY.
Then you also have a few comments where she says poverty is not an excuse!!
(This goes against all scientific research on the matter. It’s proven that hungry children living in violent neighborhoods with struggling poverty stricken parents and drugs & gangs and whatever… It’s a fact, it’s not conducive to the brain!!)
And interspersed is a plethora from principles & teachers & students talking about the basic life struggles of these kids in poor neighborhoods and schools.
And as the show goes on this really builds to a crescendo it seems.
And it’s like you see that she simply put a mask over the poverty, and acted like it just didn’t matter. All that mattered was the test SCORES.
It was like Frontline was taking me through the story of expectations and betrayal. Where the ugly truth starts gushing faster & faster out of the holes…
A community hoping for better education and help… only to be duped most cruelly.
Then we find out how she disobeyed the elected city council to hire a bunch of teachers, then make an excuse to lay a bunch off… It was completely clear that what she did was a strategic & unethical gaming of the system. I mean they didn’t say that outright, but they all but said it.
She loses her job. Okay.
Then they interview the new principle at the school who actually caught people & essentially proved there was cheating previously.
And we’re left with… AND NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT IT.
And now this woman is on Oprah preening and out in the world, in schools across the nation…
TRULY FRIGHTENING.
So anyway, I hope this helps for another perspective.
I can easily see how someone who’s known about Rhee for years, and knows all about all this stuff… well that’s not who this Frontline was for.
This Frontline was NOT for people like you! (No offense!)
It was for people like me who were previously ignorant, pretty much to this whole thing… and just worry about corruption in middle class school districts… when poor inner city school districts face very different problems than much of the country.
It led me to an internet search… looking to find out more about this Rhee.
And I see she’s a privatization lobbyist essentially…
This Frontline was a very powerful piece of documentary journalism for the uninformed.
Believe me, it left me in NO DOUBT that the schools, the principals, the teachers, were not the problem in the DC school system. POVERTY is the problem in that school system. Rhee was just successful in covering it up and making people upset for a few years & wrecking some lives in the process, no doubt. 😦 I came away with the impression that the woman is dangerous and quite probably criminal, but at least immoral.
Thanks, amoreena — I know all about Rhee and perceived what your perceived and was hoping that innocents like you might be seeing it that way.
But the questions I have are, why didn’t frontline say certain things “outright?” Why was there so much innuendo when it would have been simple to provide the facts that were being implied? Why did Frontline resort to this oblique method? Why are they instead counting on insightful people like you to “get it?”
The Michelle Rhee documentary was truly a low point for FRONTLINE and journalism as a whole at PBS. To have an hour of propaganda in the face of mounds of evidence exposing Rhee as an abject fraud is a moral disgrace. To not even have a blurb from GF Brandenberg is the most damning indictment of this fiasco.
Rhee is a creation of Eli Broad, a man whose name was never mentioned in the entire broadcast. To have someone advocate for the exploitation of children for millionaires/billionaires under the guise of reform is quite frankly perverse.
Rhee demonstrated the depth of commitment and passion she held for the students of the DC school system when she quit on them.
Well done. I think it’s a good idea to move away from the cheating allegations (as likely to be true as they are) and on to things that CAN be proven beyond doubt: What her experience is (isn’t); What her qualifications are (aren’t); The overwhelmingly shared characteristics of students who do perform well academically-the characteristics that CAN be tied to hard data (socio-econ status, family stability, zip code…) instead of some easily gamed “great teacher”/ school rating testing system.
Missed the original broadcast?
Rhee-run: Watch Frontline’s “The Education of Michelle Rhee”
PBS video runtime 53:40
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education-of-michelle-rhee/
Comments which exposed Rhee’s duck taping her students’ mouth were removed from Frontline’s comment section. Truth will set you free.
Merrow’s whitewashed Rhee’s failures in DC.
How does one who gets kicked out of a job,is publicly humiliated, causes a mayor to lose an election,and is proven to be a fraud get to have a say anymore?
Money folks, it’s all about the money.
Look what she did in DC. She tried to bribe teachers and administrators with money.
Rhee pushes an agenda that drives public dollars into private hands. That’s why her backers give her money to push this agenda. Those same backers are looking for those same” bonuses”. They’ll cheat, falsify data, and screw anyone who gets in their way.
Merrow, did to Frontline, what Rhee did to DC.
It is maddening that Rhee gets a forum and you don’t… And in the bitterest irony, Rhee, who is using tests to reinforce the factory school model, becomes the face of “reform” and you, who seek systemic change to schools, get cast as a defender of the “status quo”…. You can’t have reform when you rely on tests based on age-cohorts…
Very disappointing. She should have paid for the hour-long free advertising. I thought Frontline was about investigative journalism.
Thank you for your thoughtful analysis. There is a strong well funded group of people who know nothing about education backing Rhee. Why? Comments on Frontline or on Huff Post that tell the truth about her tenure in DC are deleted. Why?
This is an arrogant, obnoxious, crusader who sought to destroy DC public education. She had no real qualifications for the job. Since when does the head of a school system have no degrees in Education? She had some Masters degree in business, no PhD, no MA in Education, nothing that qualified her for that job.
She disrespected teachers, principals, parents and children. She was allowed to experiment on DC children’s education, and they were mere guinea pigs in the school privatization effort.
Michelle Rhee is a fraud and a shyster, and I am glad you keep exposing the truth.
Why oh why did PBS do a special on her? There are so many other more worthy educators!
I was very disappointed that one man being interviewed (I think it was Richard Whitmire?) was allowed to regurgitate that old bromide that tenure protects bad teachers and it’s so hard to get rid of the bad or incompetent teachers, blah, blah. Unless I missed it, Merrow offered no one to counter that anti-public school teacher opinion and he just let the comment pass without any follow up or challenging the veracity of that BS.
No credible critic was on the program. George Walker, head of the WTU, now works for Rhee. Why not interview someone who knows her record, like G.F. Brandenburg or civil rights lawyer Mary Levy.
“George Walker, head of the WTU, now works for Rhee”
I think you mean George Parker, who is listed on the StudentsFirst Staff webpage as a Senior Fellow and former president of WTU.
So much of the Frontline segment seemed to be interviews from the past, which I found rather confusing. It also makes me wonder if what Parker said occurred before he lost his election and went over to StudentsFirst.
Some people really will do anything for money.
thank you Ms. Ravitch for being a voice of reason. Thank you for giving educators like me faith and hope that common sense may yet prevail in education “reform”.
Thank you for believing in a well rounded education is more than test scores and for defending the arts and literature as worthy subjects. And thank you for calling out a charlatan when you see one.
Thank you. I wish that Clifford Janney, Michelle Rhee’s predecessor in DC, would get full credit for the then new DC standards, coordinated city-wide curriculum and related teacher training that caused the increase in academic performance in DC schools in Rhee’s first year. I am a DCPS parent.
One person rarely deserves “full credit” for anything. Full blame, possibly, but credit is almost always shared among the designers and the implementers.
Michelle Rhee represents the Frankenstein that one fears when one hyper focuses on Test Results. Test Mania is a nightmare and it often is used to drive Privatization, which in turn makes the private school owners, the charter school owners and the proponents of this effort richer — and the casualties are our kids, their teachers and society,
We do have a problem in public schools besides Test Mania, We need to invest more in developing teachers, giving them the tools they need and to make sure that bad teachers and principals are improved or removed. Our best defense is a good offense
The second Rhee began attracting attention I predicted that she was of the rare species whose career would prosper inverse proportionately to her level of failure.
If Michelle Rhee succeeded in D.C. she would have just been a school superintendent – no documentaries, huge speaking fees, fame or fortune. There is no value in being a good educator.
The genius of the TFA/New Teacher project scheme is that failure is then used as evidence against the viability of public education. In other words, “Even the great ME can’t fix this damned school system. Let’s shut it down or privatize it.”
Rhee is not interested in the children, certainly not in the teachers, or in improving education. I don’t think she cares about improving anything other than her own political aspirations. She has a terrible track record and regurgitates the same old tripe, equating reform with test scores. I am amazed that anyone gives her the time of day. Very disappointed in PBS for not calling her out on her misguided policies.
Will have to explain to the numerous future MDs, attys, teachers, etc I graduated high school with that we got shorted.
All we cared about was passing the numerous comprehensive tests they threw at us. Chapter after chapter, note taking, discussions, papers, getting up in front of the class to explain problems.
THEN we had mid terms followed by end of the semesters and then the finals. We had to know the material in the books as well as what the teachers explained.
Frankly when a teacher explained a concept to us we were expected to use it in all similar situations.
Teaching to the test is how children LEARN.
Tf
Yes Terry, but the tests you mention were catered generally to the specific class you were taking, not generalized for thousands of classes. You teacher was able to administer those tests as deemed appropriate. “Teaching to the standardized test” would in fact distract from just that kind of instruction. I suggest you take an education class that discusses different kinds of assessment.
Also, you are only viewing this from the perspective of your own experience. As an example, what say you to the students who come into this country, are illiterate in their own language let alone English, and then are asked to take a test in English (as is mandated for immigrants who have been in the country for around a year, state law depending)?
This is one of many situations outside of your reality that has to be considered when you think that standardized test scores accurately measure school efficacy.
Just discovered there are actually two Frontline mirror pages on the Rhee show, so the comments are split up on different pages.
Most are here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education-of-michelle-rhee/
Some are here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/education-of-michelle-rhee/education-department-finds-no-evidence-of-widespread-cheating-on-d-c-exams/
Interesting how they sandwiched Diane’s comment between Geoffrey Canada’s and Margaret Spelling’s. The Live Chat Assessing Rhee’s Reforms on Thursday is likely to be just a imbalanced with their selection of “leading journalists and experts.”
If you didn’t believe before that the media is a tool of propaganda that’s owned and controlled by corporate America, you should have enough evidence now to see how tainted the reports are. Representatives of real people discussing all sides of such important matters on these shows are few and far between –and tokenism at best.
It’s so unbelievable the she continues to hold test scores as the single criteria when those we admire and respect in society are those that lead with action and innovation in sports, arts, government, science and technology. Why do people continually want to reduce what’s possible and our children to test scores?
Maureen: Would you go to an MD who couldn’t pass the exams but did well in art?
How about flying a plan designed by people who were really really friendly and thought numbers were limited to phones?
Seriously, have worked with asians who come here like coiled springs ready to take jobs every chance they get. They had to actuallY LEARN it all… the basics on up.
Imagination without comprehension of the sciences, numbers etc around us is a fools paradise.
silly, silly, silly argument.
Terry – I regret dedicating time to responding to your earlier post. I won’t even try to dismantle the specious fallacies in this post, let alone the latent racism.
And bad spelling and grammar.
Is there a reason why most of the original comments on THIS page are missing, Diane?
The comments are moderated on the Frontline pages and I had left a comment which was never approved that said something negative but true about Rhee’s track record. I reviewed the comment rules and thought maybe it was flagged as a “personal attack” on their beloved Rhee. Maybe that’s why the “Ice Queen” paragraph was cut, too.
TeacherEd: Near the top, after Diane’s nine paragraphs, it says (now) 60 comments. Just under that there is a link for “Older Comments”. Click on that to see the rest of the comments for this blog entry. WordPress.com must do that automatically when the number of Replies gets over a certain limit.
Thank you, Mathcs! I never saw WordPress do that before on this blog.
CHARLES KING
AS A RETIRED SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT PEOPLE LIKE MICHELLE RHEE ARE THE REAL ENEMIES OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. THEIR EMPHASIS ON A STRUCTURED SYSTEM THAT FUNNELS LEARNERS TOWARD “BOTTOM LINE” RESULTS–STANDARDIZED TESTS–DESTROYS CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION AND THE POTENTIAL FOR THE UPWARD EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY.
Chas … so you would go to an MD who never could pass the boards but became an MD based on his lack of whatever you mean by creativity?
But of course you were probably a wonderful teacher who never gave tests because you could just tell by the vacant look in their eyes they were enthralled and must certainly understand it all on account of your own creativity. Sighhh
There’s no doubt there’s a rigorous cirriculum of Math and Science required to become an MD. I agree totally. However, is every student going to become an MD?
I just finished my student teaching practicum in 5th grade and was frankly overwhelmed by the creativity and imagination of the students. For example, one student made personalized cartoon drawings for every student in class on Halloween. She obviously has a tremendous talent for art. This imagination should be encouraged and she should explore this talent instead of only being regulated to endless standardized testing to improve her Math and Science scores.
Frankly, I walked away amazed at the possibilities if students are left to explore problem solving using their natural intuition rather than be stuffed into a shoe that doesn’t fit. There are students who will naturally gravitate towards becoming MDs and they should be encouraged to go that route. However, every student shouldn’t be mindlessly pushed into a direction that doesn’t suit their proclivities. This is what fuels the status quo of our world, the standardized sameness of our thinking that produces automatons incapable of critical, inquiry-based creative thought.
What parents, and the rest of society want to know is how the children are doing. Inner city children are our most vulnerable.
So how would YOU suggest people learn to read and write and decipher and provide accurate feedback. right now we are watching generation after generation of inner city children end up on the streets… contributing little to themselves, others or society.
When threatened our current crop of teachers in many many cases teach their students (by example) that it is OK to cheat … and how to cheat.
If we don’t try SOMETHING different we are doomed to continue this process indefinitely.
Michelle Rhee is a buffoon. I have no respect for her or her credentials to have ever been the Chancellor of the D.C. schools. Her methods are archaic and if her “Pedagogical Practices” were truely awe inspiring and worked, wouldn’t you think this egotistical, narsasistic individual would have takenthe show on the road? What a PHONEY! If everyone quits following or listening to her, she’ll go away. I challenge everyone to boycott her and her foundation.
Pigeon-holing Rhee as caring “only about test scores” and then attacking her for doing so is shoddy, lazy, and misleading. Rhee correctly worked to improve low test scores, but sought that through improving the quality of teachers, principals, data, curriculum, operations, and a host of other things that go into making a district functional. Judging the progress of DC’s schools by test scores, as you do, is disrespectful to the legacy of Rhee, whose reforms have been instrumental in turning around a dysfunctional system, which will in turn be able to provide a better education to students.
Rhee did not turn around the DC system. As I said in my commentary, most of the principals she hired have left. She (and her deputy) have run the system for five years, have a free hand to fire people and hire people, and the system remains one of the lowest performing in the US, with the largest achievement gaps between black and white students as well as Hispanic and white students. The gaps are twice as large in DC as in any other urban district in the US.
Fair enough–the school system is still significantly under-performing. But pre-Rhee, there weren’t textbooks in every class, qualified teachers, well-functioning infrastructure, access to technology, and on and on. And now there is. How can you dismiss everything else she’s done for this system? It isn’t reasonable to expect an improvement in student achievement when the system itself was in shambles, and those things have certainly turned around.
What is te evidence of turnaround? The biggest achievement gap in the nation and the lowest graduation rate and the highest teacher turnover?
guess you are correct. Those darn minorities … what can we do?
More PE, Art, communications skills, recess, study time….
Are you sane? Rhee and respect…legacy…progress…turning around..better education…oh my! Back to work at Students Last, please. Gift cards anyone?
I really hope you have the same sense of sarcasm that I have because if not I hope you never encounter the Jim Jones type (of which the rheeject is one) and drink the koolaid.
Rhee displays symptoms of a psychopath who is able to fool a lot of people.
Rhee is VERY asian in her take on things. Those chinese especially think that children should work hard, study, do homework .. and that their teachers should know how to teach and that they are totally familiar with their subject matter.
Those krazy asians, what do THEY know about education??
Lack of empathy, self-centered, driven by the desire for power over as many other people as possible.
Could you explain to us why TEACHING to the TEST is wrong? Never had a teacher who DID’NT teach to the test!
Cannot fault Ms Rhee for believing that teachers and administrators would NOT cheat. Who amongst us would have believed (teacher unions blamed Rhee of course) that adults would sacrifice the education of little children would be sacrificed for money.
Rhee exposed the horrific conditions of inner city schools and the horrible adults who make their living from those poor children.
Teaching to the testis wrong. When kids practice for the tests, they may learn to answer those kinds of questions, but if you gave them a different test of the same material, they may not be able to answer at all. They didn’t practice for that test. It is bad education. Children need general knowledge and skills that can be applied in many situations. You will notice that the best schools and best teachers do not teach to the tests. Also, many tests are narrow and of little educational value.
Sorry you never had a teacher that didn’t teach to the test. How old are you 20? The fact is an assessment is just that, what one teaches and then see if the students have comprehended. No, no good teacher “teaches to the test”. One teaches and the test is a tertiary concern.
And I’m glad that you weren’t affiliated with Jim Jones, because if you were as defensive of him as you are the Rheeject you would be dead by now from drinking the koolaid.
Will have to explain to the numerous future MDs, attys, teachers, etc I graduated high school with that we got shorted. All we cared about was passing the numerous comprehensive tests they threw at us. Chapter after chapter, note taking, discussions, papers, getting up in front of the class to explain problems. THEN we had mid terms followed by end of the semesters and then the finals. We had to know the material in the books as well as what the teachers explained. Frankly when a teacher explained a concept to us we were expected to use it in all similar situations. Teaching to the test is how children LEARN. Tf
Nonsense. The tests ask you to guess at a bubble, not to explain what you know.
Guess? HOPEFULLY you are not involved in the education system! WOW
THE FACT THAT, ACCORDING TO YOU, “{You] Never had a teacher who DIDN’T teach to the test.,” GIVES US PRETTY CLEAR INSIGHT INTO WHY YOU HAVE SUCH ADMIRATION FOR “EDUCATORS” LIKE MICHELLE RHEE.
EVEN THOUGH I WASN’T LIKE MOST OF MY COLLEAGUES, I TESTED STUDENTS BECAUSE I HAD TO HAVE SOME HARD EVIDENCE TO BACK UP THE GRADES I WAS REQUIRED TO GIVE. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT TESTING (AND REVIEWING FOR TESTS) WAS A WASTE OF VALUABLE TEACHING TIME, AND THAT ASSIGNING GRADES WAS MORE HARMFUL THAN HELPFUL. SO I LET MY STUDENTS USE THEIR NOTES DURING TESTS. I ALSO LET THEM CONSULT THEIR TEXTBOOKS DURING TESTS. FOR ESSAY QUESTIONS, I WOULD GIVE THEM A SELECTION OF QUESTIONS BEFORE TEST DAY, BUT REQUIRE THEM TO CHOOSE THEIR QUESTION AND WRITE THEIR ESSAY DURING THE TEST PERIOD. EVEN WITH ALL THESE ADVANTAGES, I HAD STUDENTS WHO SCOURED POORLY ON MY TESTS
. ADMITTEDLY I WASN’T EDUCATING DOCTORS, BUT THEN I DON’T KNOW ANY PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS WHO DID.
We should stop calling this education reform. It is education raping. At least we should just come out and say what it’s all about, for-profit education, or Wall Street’s Guide to Harvesting Funds from U.S. School Districts. StudentsFirst has 7 lobbyists in Tennessee now. Tennessee Education Association has one. I am interested in organizing a Town Hall Meeting on privatization, which is still a low-radar issue. THMeeting could be named: “R.I.P. Public Education,” or “The Wal-Martization of Educating children.”
I actually am thinking of using the Frontline Documentary as a teaching tool for my leadership classes. It’s treasure trove of examples of “how not to lead a district,” from placing a rookie principal in a wildly over-crowded and dysfunctional school and expecting her to magically improve things, to firing a principal on camera, to degrading your own talent pool (constantly bad mouthing the DC teachers, etc), to the rank insubordination that got her fired, Rhee has inadvertently given me weeks of teaching material.
I posted a long response on the PBS site … but forgot to mention the discuss I felt watching Rhee get in and out of the backseat of her chauffeur driven SUV. I once saw Al Pacino driven away from a restaurant … choosing to sit with his driver in the front seat. She is no Al Pacino. For kids and administrators to view her pulling up to their schools in such a regal manner speaks not just to her judgment … but her need to be feel regal and be viewed as the same. It looked ugly to me.
And one last thought. The scene in the PBS doc. of Michelle and a principal in conference, albeit a snippet, could be used in principal training as an example of what NOT to do. Her focus was completely on gleaning a commitment to raise scores … not have a discussion on best practices, strategies for improving instruction, etc. She simply wanted her charges to give her a % of scores they hoped to have a year’s end … nothing about school climate, the whole-child, they type of instruction that best works, was had. Shameful. Just angry at all of this.
I posted a long response on the PBS site … but forgot to mention the discuss I felt watching Rhee get in and out of the backseat of her chauffeur driven SUV. I once saw Al Pacino driven away from a restaurant … choosing to sit with his driver in the front seat. She is no Al Pacino. For kids and administrators to view her pulling up to their schools in such a regal manner speaks not just to her judgment … but her need to be feel regal and be viewed as the same. It looked ugly to me.
Wonder if Frontline understands the damage they have done to their brand? Rhee is a self-serving dissembler, but Frontline had a well deserved, positive reputation–one that has been seriously eroded. Was it worth it?
Chuck and Diane,
But read this comment left by Merrrow. I am confused by it. It seems he wants publicity for his blog rather than doing the right thing to repair his reputation. Am I reading it incorrectly?
john merrow 10. Jan, 2013 at 12:50 pm #
I hope that those who criticize me and/or the Frontline program will devote as much energy to making this blog (and the criticism) go viral. A typical Frontline program reaches between 700,000 and 1,000,000 viewers as I understand it. So make that your challenge, my friends.
See the post and all comments:
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6070&cpage=1#comment-17388
Linda,
I can’t be sure but this is how I interpret what John meant in that post. He was unable to put into the Frontline piece all he wished he could have. If he had had complete editorial control, there would have been more about Adele Cothorne, whom he obviously admires. Maybe 1 million people saw the PBS show. If his post goes viral, maybe 1 million will see what ended up on the cutting room floor.
This is sheer speculation, but I am guessing that someone higher up on the food chain wanted kid-glove treatment of Rhee. That’s why we saw lots of the old fawning footage, and not enough about the people who were frightened to be interviewed and not enough about what happened to Adele.
Diane
Got it! I think you may be on to something.
I am so leery of his people that I get too suspicious. I hope that is true.
I suppose Gates is at the top of the food chain.
Just look at how many crooked cheating teachers and administrators Rhee uncovered. No WONDER DC children can’t get an education.
Funny how progressive educators continue to support these cheaters.
HOPEFULLY we will root out all the DC teachers and administrators that were involved in cheating.
Then you must expect her to turn herself in soon. Can you contact her and ask her to do the right thing.
She was their “leader” and the fish rots from the head. Get on that please.
So you agree there were/still are hundreds of teachers and administrators involved in the cheating and that they should be let go as they are uncovered?
Oh, wait, the Teachers Unions will halt any investigations just for that reason.. LOL
… but you do agree that if it turns out that huge numbers of teachers and other professionals were involved in cheating they need to be fired …. right??
Oh yes, of course and after Rhee and her gang turn themselves in that will happen.
They were fired in Atlanta for cheating. The superintendent who promoted the cheating got a nice bonus.
Same in DC too, right??
Yes, I agree. Rhee is a liar and cheater too.
HOPEFULLY she fired most of the liars and cheaters and only left a few hundred.
BUT I guess with the PC crowd in charge things will go back to the way they were.
Well said!!!!!!
Why is it that these “special” people who fail at their jobs (Rhee in DC) become the spokespeople for “how to do it right?” Another failure is Carley Fiorina the former HP CEO (who was fired because she was sending her company down the tubes) and then wants to run for political office and appears frequently on talk shows to tell us how to run the economy. These kinds of people are losers. Wake up America.
This article is totally inaccurate. Things improved significantly while Rhee was in DC. The mayor after her backed off of much needed reform. She puts STUDENTS first, not adults. Teachers in reformed cities can make up to $140,000 a year plus bonuses for being a highly effective professional. A lot of highly effective professionals work in challenging environments. We wouldn’t want the doctor who has a history of patients dying on his table, would we? Why do we except this from educators? Because our families have already escaped to the suburbs, and it’s not really our concern? She wants students to enjoy school, because then they will perform well academically. If you have a teacher that labels students and families as “bad” that teacher’s classroom will be out of control. If you have a teacher that respects students and believes that they can achieve greatness despite their neighborhood, income level, and color, that teachers scores will be high because the students will want to be there and learn. Those teachers often don’t agree with their unions, and say, “Yeah, go ahead and count my kids test scores in my evaluation!” Michelle Rhee will always have you loud mouth haters, but now thanks to studentsfirst.org we parents can join a strong national advocacy to fight defeat unions who want to give 99% of teachers a good evaluation every year even if their students fail to read every year. Organize, parents! Use your voices. Studentsfirst.org is often the way that one or two powerful parent voices are heard and win the fight to reform our failed education system.