Our first reform fairy tale was Chicken Little. This one is the story of the Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Leap-Frog, who were invited by the King to pass a test to win the Princess.
It is with humor, satire, and fairy tales that we unmask the foolishness that dares call itself “reform.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Perhaps you can post Nicholas Lemann’s review of Michelle Rhee’s “Radicals: Fighting to Put Students First.” The review is in the May 23, 2013 issue of The New Republic, pp.35-37. Lemann gently but firmly critiques the ideas Rhee advocates while simultaneously commenting on her history and personality as a reformer. If John Merrow’s blow has not dazed Rhee, perhaps Lemann’s pulling the rug out from under can help to topple her. Richard Ognibene Professor of Education Emeritus Siena College Loudonville, NY
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Here is the latest from Rhee. Her response to Merrow: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130508140759-120446929-eye-on-the-ball?_mSplash=1
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She claims that the “smoking gun” memo was turned over to the authorities. I assume Merrow is aware of this claim by now. Is it true? Is it “technically” true in the Debbie Gist sense? Is it an outright lie?
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Ron: it appears to be true. See the bottom of page 2 of the following memo:
Click to access Closing_Memorandum_11-000491.pdf
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“By attacking me personally rather than engaging in policy discussions, my critics are defending an American public education system in which one out of every four kids doesn’t graduate high school.”
Rhee is beyond despicable. She cites no evidence for her statements. She criticizes the current state of public education that her own policies helped to create. She left D.C. Public Schools in chaos. She deserves no say.
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Rhee doesn’t understand that when John Merrow–who promoted her a dozen times on PBS–says that she refused to investigate allegations of cheating, that is not a personal attack. That is a question about the ISSUES. Beverly Hall is facing serious jail time for doing what Rhee did in plain sight, on TV.
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The yahoos want computers to teach students. Teachers are just there to plug the kid into the right program. What NONSENSE!
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Ron–I noticed that you posted a good comment on Michelle’s diatribe/post. Out of 101 comments, there were two that were critical (and told the truth to her power–Ron’s and a principal’s), and six that were somewhat critical.
The rest, of course, were absolutely glowing! (And most of these were from corporate leaders!)
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I asked how I could verify her claim that the “smoking gun” memo had been shown to the two authorities she mentioned. Rhee used to work closely with Debbie Gist, who has been our Commissioner of Education for the last few years. My experience with Gist leads me to believe that if SHE were to make such a statement, it would probably be “technically” true, but misleading. I’d like to know the truth behind Rhee’s statement.
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I don’t know why anyone is “afraid” of Rhee. I’m not. I would love to debate her, but she runs away.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, anyone, but didn’t Rhee originally claim that she didn’t remember ever seeing that memo? I’m sure I read that somewhere. It seems strange that she is now claiming that she gave it to the investigating authorities.
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Ron, you are correct. Rhee did originally deny seeing the memo.
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6232
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Ron, I could’ve sworn I read that somewhere too. I did find this on Merrow’s blog:
“I don’t recall receiving a report from Sandy Sanford regarding erasure data from the DC CAS, but I’m pleased, as has been previously reported, that both inspectors general (DOE and DCPS) reviewed the memo and confirmed my belief that there was no wide spread cheating.”
Above Rhee quote is from “Michelle Rhee’s Reign of Error” post here: http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6232
Now if the memo actually has been shown to the two inspector generals, then they are likely running scared too, just like Rhee. If they received it, it will be very important to find out WHEN they received it, won’t it?
Note Duncan’s recent effort to “get past” this.
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DOE received the memo in September 2011.
I don’t know about DCPS.
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So… Help me interpret the facts here. If it was received by investigative authorities in 2011, what does that mean for Rhee and her part in any possible cover up? Or any other negative role she might have played?
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I’m not sure how it affects that analysis. It looks like DOE subpoenaed Sanford’ consulting firm, Eduneering, for documents in August 2011. Eduneering produced documents a month later, including the January 2008 memo. DOE reviewed the memo, and interviewed Sanford and others in DCPS about it. DOE’s conclusions, and its memoranda of its interviews, are set forth in that memo I linked to above. I would assume that the publication of that memo is what set Merrow’s story in motion, either because he read it and tried to get the documents referenced in it, or because his sources felt free to discuss the documents now that the memo had been published and the information wasn’t confidential anymore.
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Diane, Rhee wouldn’t dare debate you. And I’ll bet Bill Gates wouldn’t either. With an independent, unbiased moderator, they wouldn’t stand a chance and they know it.
But it would sure be cool if we had a widely publicized challenge for them to debate you. All would depend on whether one could procure a truly independent moderator of the debate. In which case they would refuse to debate! And that alone would say a lot.
One lie calls for another, now Rhee can’t stop.
She is to be pitied. It really doesn’t seem like she has a conscience. But way too much is at stake for our country to let this story go.
An upcoming reformy fairy tale will be titled “The Empress Exposed” and I am definitely not talking about her clothes.
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retiredbutmissthekids: I noticed the same thing you did, i.e., that most of the comments were from what you called “corporate leaders” and were “absolutely glowing.” But inquiring minds want to know: what happened to the dozens and dozens of equally laudatory responses from, say, teachers and administrators of DCPS, past and present, that must have flooded in? Sure they must have been suppressed…
😦
Several small points.
First, notice that Michelle Rhee follows the edubully playbook to the letter. Near the beginning she references the recent racial/ethnic insult hurled at her as being from a “union boss” [sounds like a real big shot, yes?] and then brings up a vulgar comment by a “blogger.” [But given the wide open nature of the net and how much of what gets written anonymously is vile slander, this is—let’s get real, not Rheeal—much ado about very little; she has gotten off lightly compared to many others.] She follows up with the “‘secret’ memo” matter to imply that this is just the same sort of unfair and nasty thing you can expect from her “critics,” i.e., just dismiss the seriousness of the memo as you would obnoxious name calling. This is a transparently sad debater’s trick but the unwary will buy in. Another reminder of why Diane’s ‘Rules of the Road’ are important and effective—and why the owner of this blog was right to repudiate the name calling right away. We don’t want to let the edubullies off the hook that easily. Focus on the facts, including her hypocrisy, and let her try to explain them away.
Note her astounding inflation of the power of the AFT and NEA [compared to the Walton Foundation and Gates Foundation, let’s say?] and then she confidently asserts:
“The special interests are very good at what they do — preserving their political influence. My operation, in comparison, is tiny. Even if we put ourselves together with every other education reform organization, we’d still be dwarfed by the publicity and political influence operations run by these groups.”
Leaving aside the all-powerful unions [a laughable statement], I am sure the owner of this blog feels pretty high and mighty right now, basking in the glow of the vast resources and staff and money and political influence she can throw up against Michelle Rhee’s puny staff of 120 and millions upon millions in $tudent $ucceSS and her easy access to political officeholders across the country and her international media megaphones.
🙂
Note her oblique references to the results of PISA and TIMSS re international comparisons. Appalling. Read the late Gerald Bracey on comparisons of US students on such tests to their counterparts elsewhere. For all her celebrity, Michelle Rhee is not only not an expert on such matters, she is not even passably well informed.
And this last bit is, I must say, inane:
“They also blame kids’ parents or their socio-economic status as reasons that our education system does not help every child achieve.”
Nobody says this. It is completely made up. It is simply insulting and she knows it.
Michelle Rhee the underdog? Only in the Rheeality she has created in her mind to explain away ignored memos and unverifiable astounding changes in student percentiles and the grossly inappropriate use of masking tape.
But I applaud her putting this online—she can’t take it back.
Now as Tauna says, if she would only consent to debating Diane Ravitch in a big media forum…
🙂
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