Valerie Strauss shows in this post that there were NO gains in reading in the District of Columbia Public Schools during the tenure of Michelle Rhee and her successor Kaya Henderson. G.F. Brandenburg noted these facts on his blog on July 31. Brandenburg asks: “So where are all those increases that Michelle Rhee promised in writing?”
Strauss writes that this is more than just a personal failure. This is a failure of the entire reform strategy.
Bernie Horn of the Public Leadership Institute writes:
“If this isn’t failure, what is?
“The latest results of the DC-CAS, the District of Columbia’s high-stakes standardized test, show that the percentage of public school students judged “proficient” or better in reading has declined over the past five years in every significant subcategory except “white.”
“This is important, and not just for Washington, D.C. It is an indictment of the whole corporatized education movement. During these five years, first Michelle Rhee and then her assistant/successor Kaya Henderson controlled DCPS and they did everything that the so-called “reformers” recommend: relying on standardized tests to rate schools, principals and teachers; closing dozens of schools; firing hundreds of teachers and principals; encouraging the unchecked growth of charters; replacing fully-qualified teachers with Teach For America and other non-professionals; adopting teach-to-the-test curricula; introducing computer-assisted “blended learning”; increasing the length of the school day; requiring an hour of tutoring before after-school activities; increasing hours spent on tested subjects and decreasing the availability of subjects that aren’t tested. Based on the city’s own system of evaluation, none of it has worked.”
There were no gains, no miracles. Except for a very small improvement in the proficiency rates of white students, every other category declined: low-income students declined; black students declined; Hispanic students declined; Special education students declined. Whites saw a small uptick of 1.6% from 2009-2014.
Horn writes:
“In truly Orwellian fashion, DCPS presents these disastrous numbers under the heading “Long-term progress in Reading has been maintained.” The Mayor, the DCPS Chancellor, and the powers-that-be all act like there’s nothing wrong.
“But clearly, this is what failure looks like. If a school had scores like this over the past five years, it would be targeted for closure. If principals or teachers had scores like this, they would be fired. If a student had scores like this, s/he would be made to feel like a failure. Where is the accountability in this supposedly “data-driven” system?”
Yet remember that TIME magazine had a cover story on December 8, 2008, about Michelle Rhee (written by Amanda Ripley) saying that this was the woman who knew how to “fix” America’s schools?
Does Michelle Rhee know how to “fix” America’s schools? There is no evidence that she does. She didn’t do it in D.C. She is still collecting millions of dollars from unnamed donors to persuade legislators to follow her disastrous strategies.
We should know by now that the data-driven, test-driven approach doesn’t work. We should know by now that schools need experienced teachers and leaders to help children and new teachers. We should know by now that schools need stability and constancy of purpose, not disruption and high teacher turnover. We should immediately end the war on public schools and teachers and give our schools the resources they need and give our professionals the respect they deserve.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Following the 2013 NAEP results.
“Our children are achieving more than they have previously, and we’re catching up with the nation,” D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said. “It confirms that the reforms that we put in place are working. When you raise the bar for teachers and you raise the bar for kids, they rise to the occasion.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-posts-significant-gains-on-national-test-outpacing-nearly-every-state/2013/11/07/dccc08c0-475c-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html
Forgot this…
The District’s performance has been improving for more than a decade, according to NAEP results, with steady growth in math and more fitful gains in reading.
You also forgot this:
“That range of variables makes it difficult to pin down the root of the better test results, but District leaders said they demonstrate that the city’s school improvement efforts are working.”
Think about what these people are saying here. They admit the models used to measure teaching are ineffective, but then say the models are effective. It is a weird kind of Reformy doublespeak that permeates all aspects of their insistence teachers are a problem.
Cherry picking a summary of a single year’s results for two grade levels from a single measure and trying to mix correlation with causation is yet another example of an epidemical fallacy in the Reform movement. As I have said many times on this blog and as “District leaders” above admit, the models used to measure teaching are horribly flawed. Statistical science is being misapplied in a very unscientific, unquestioned approach. It gives MATH a bad name and makes it a four lettered word.
It’s absolutely is not two years data. This has been a steady improvement going back 10 years. If you did a national comparison, I imagine DC would be one of the national leaders in learning gains.
“Reformathturbation”
Cherry-picking
Extrapolation
“Correlation
Means causation”
Mathturbation
Is the norm
At the base
Of ed reform
If you want to hang with this blog, Bill F., you have to “raise the bar” and add some substance to your assertions. Even most posters who add opposing views here do better than just Googling and posting links followed by inflammatory troll statements. However, I might suggest Politico or Fox News as more your style.
“Inflammatory Trolls” (Thanks Mathvale!)
Inflammatory trolls
With pants and hair on fire
Would sell their very souls
To get what they desire
So, at best, conflicting results from two sets of tests. One set measured two grade levels. The others were more comprehensive across multiple grade levels.
Also, remember, the Horn / Brandenburg articles measure subgroups rather than simply taking a holistic picture. Perhaps there’s some truth in both. Also, if I recall correctly, gentrification was also a factor in the uptick and was noted in the Washington Post.
This is the classic example of what I’ve mentioned many times. Both sides can cherry-pick to their hearts’ content. Truth is, the needle hasn’t really moved as a result of the “reform” movement. We’re all just playing around with old ideas (charters, merit pay, and some others have been around for 20 years now).
Education in America hasn’t improved because people are focused on the wrong things but many won’t care because it’s a fight about money now. Schools are only part of the educational process. We all know the effects of SES, family involvement and other cultural factors. But that’s too complex to really address.
“It confirms”
Of course it does.
I almost feel sorry for her. She’s there. She probably knows it’s a much more nuanced picture than presented, nationally, by people who have an agenda to promote a specific narrow set of reforms.
I don’t know why they have to over-sell everything. All it does it corrode credibility. They should stop using this crazy language; “rock stars” and “superstars” and seizing on every bump in the numbers as “confirming” something or other. Why not just present the whole picture, including the downside of “reform”? No rational adult should believe radical reforms NEVER include a downside. That’s the nature of risk. If they’re going to blow up public school systems they have to accept the risk that there will be a downside. Maybe the downside is worth the upside, but pretending it’s ALL win, for everyone, all the time in a competitive “market based” system is just nonsense. That’s a fantasy.
What did she lose with the reforms? WHO lost? No one? It was all upside, for everyone involved? I find that hard to believe in such a complex system. If she did manage that, she’ll be the first person in history ever who radically changed a system and had 100% positive results for every person in the system.
Chiara: that’s why I call “education reform” a business plan masquerading as an education model.
Hype. Spin. Over-selling of one’s “product.” Denigration of one’s “competitors.” Lying by omission. Lying by commission. Massaged numbers paired with tortured stats. Quick fixes and panaceas and faux PhDs aplenty.
All coupled with a casual hypocrisy that is beyond shameless.
It all makes sense if your goal is to make ₵ent¢. It’s just SOP [standard operating procedure] in bidness. Thus the outrage, anguish and horror registered by the self-styled leaders of the “new civil rights movement of our time” when they are called to account by those in favor of a “better education for all.”
And their business plan isn’t even the best one available. It’s win-lose. Win for the very few, lose for the vast majority. One school for mine, another for thine.
Win-win? Their response is often the non-response, with a very occasional foray out into the real world where suddenly the uninformed rabble [that’s us, the vast majority] give them what for [Cami Anderson and John King come to mind].
More often it’s isolating themselves in their $tudent $ucce$$-friendly MSM forums or at those BBBBC [BusyBody Billionaire Boys Club] retreats where the food and service befit the refined tastes of the new lords and ladies of the manor.
But they can’t stand the kind of transparency folks like you bring to the table. To the skulking vampires of that large part of the education establishment that calls itself “rheephorm” you are the light of day that ends their wretched attempts to suck the life out of public education.
They fear even one ray of sunshine.
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” [Saint Francis of Assisi]
Keep shining. Keep writing. I’ll keep reading.
😎
Dr. Ravitch has often praised the NAEP exams as the gold standard of standardized exams and used NAEP scores as evidence of school system achievement. I hope that she will comment on which scores she finds more accurate, the NAEP or the DC-CAS scores.
I bet if you tried really hard you could already figure out what Diane would say in terms of the respective purposes and limitations of those two tests. But, if you’d rather, I will believe you really are this dense.
I would rather not guess at what anyone thinks about anything here. There is, of course, this handy index of posts about the NAEP exams: https://dianeravitch.net/category/naep/
The NAEP is not designed to take a handful of data points from a handful of grades from one city and draw any conclusions about improvements (or lack thereof) in those individual students from that particular city. But I’m pretty sure you know that, and I’m pretty sure you know that that’s basically what Diane would say too.
Dienne,
Dr. Ravitch herself used NAEP exam results to compare San Diego public school results to Huston public schools in this post: https://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/07/is-san-diego-the-best-urban-district-in-the-nation/ . I would guess that Dr. Ravitch believes these kinds of comparisons to have value otherwise she would not have made them.
Is NAEP a measure? Sure. Is it THE measure? No. I believe Ms Ravitch and others have made clear testing serves a diagnostic purpose but is questionable as a complete, sole measure of learning – if learning can even be completely measured. It is called context, reasoning, and good ole human analysis and thought. Put that in your “gotcha” metric pipe and smoke it (Colorado excluded).
If I present a strongly unionized organization in a place that supports teachers and enchews testing, does that contradict and invalidate YOUR talking points?
MathVale,
I don’t believe I ever made any claim about anything at all being “the” measure for something. The NEAP is a measure, and Dr. Ravitch, probably knows far more about the NEAP than either of us as a former board member of the organization.
*eschews. Sorry Weird Al.
“It’s time to set the record straight. The only valid measure of academic performance in our schools is the federal test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP has been testing American students since the early 1970s.”
Diane Ravitch
See above.
There are NO VALID MEASURES OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE. Read and understand what Wilson has proven in regard to the COMPLETE INVALIDITY of any standardized test: “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
Brief outline of Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” and some comments of mine. (updated 6/24/13 per Wilson email)
1. A description of a quality can only be partially quantified. Quantity is almost always a very small aspect of quality. It is illogical to judge/assess a whole category only by a part of the whole. The assessment is, by definition, lacking in the sense that “assessments are always of multidimensional qualities. To quantify them as unidimensional quantities (numbers or grades) is to perpetuate a fundamental logical error” (per Wilson). The teaching and learning process falls in the logical realm of aesthetics/qualities of human interactions. In attempting to quantify educational standards and standardized testing the descriptive information about said interactions is inadequate, insufficient and inferior to the point of invalidity and unacceptability.
2. A major epistemological mistake is that we attach, with great importance, the “score” of the student, not only onto the student but also, by extension, the teacher, school and district. Any description of a testing event is only a description of an interaction, that of the student and the testing device at a given time and place. The only correct logical thing that we can attempt to do is to describe that interaction (how accurately or not is a whole other story). That description cannot, by logical thought, be “assigned/attached” to the student as it cannot be a description of the student but the interaction. And this error is probably one of the most egregious “errors” that occur with standardized testing (and even the “grading” of students by a teacher).
3. Wilson identifies four “frames of reference” each with distinct assumptions (epistemological basis) about the assessment process from which the “assessor” views the interactions of the teaching and learning process: the Judge (think college professor who “knows” the students capabilities and grades them accordingly), the General Frame-think standardized testing that claims to have a “scientific” basis, the Specific Frame-think of learning by objective like computer based learning, getting a correct answer before moving on to the next screen, and the Responsive Frame-think of an apprenticeship in a trade or a medical residency program where the learner interacts with the “teacher” with constant feedback. Each category has its own sources of error and more error in the process is caused when the assessor confuses and conflates the categories.
4. Wilson elucidates the notion of “error”: “Error is predicated on a notion of perfection; to allocate error is to imply what is without error; to know error it is necessary to determine what is true. And what is true is determined by what we define as true, theoretically by the assumptions of our epistemology, practically by the events and non-events, the discourses and silences, the world of surfaces and their interactions and interpretations; in short, the practices that permeate the field. . . Error is the uncertainty dimension of the statement; error is the band within which chaos reigns, in which anything can happen. Error comprises all of those eventful circumstances which make the assessment statement less than perfectly precise, the measure less than perfectly accurate, the rank order less than perfectly stable, the standard and its measurement less than absolute, and the communication of its truth less than impeccable.”
In other word all the logical errors involved in the process render any conclusions invalid.
5. The test makers/psychometricians, through all sorts of mathematical machinations attempt to “prove” that these tests (based on standards) are valid-errorless or supposedly at least with minimal error [they aren’t]. Wilson turns the concept of validity on its head and focuses on just how invalid the machinations and the test and results are. He is an advocate for the test taker not the test maker. In doing so he identifies thirteen sources of “error”, any one of which renders the test making/giving/disseminating of results invalid. And a basic logical premise is that once something is shown to be invalid it is just that, invalid, and no amount of “fudging” by the psychometricians/test makers can alleviate that invalidity.
6. Having shown the invalidity, and therefore the unreliability, of the whole process Wilson concludes, rightly so, that any result/information gleaned from the process is “vain and illusory”. In other words start with an invalidity, end with an invalidity (except by sheer chance every once in a while, like a blind and anosmic squirrel who finds the occasional acorn, a result may be “true”) or to put in more mundane terms crap in-crap out.
7. And so what does this all mean? I’ll let Wilson have the second to last word: “So what does a test measure in our world? It measures what the person with the power to pay for the test says it measures. And the person who sets the test will name the test what the person who pays for the test wants the test to be named.”
In other words it attempts to measure “’something’ and we can specify some of the ‘errors’ in that ‘something’ but still don’t know [precisely] what the ‘something’ is.” The whole process harms many students as the social rewards for some are not available to others who “don’t make the grade (sic)” Should American public education have the function of sorting and separating students so that some may receive greater benefits than others, especially considering that the sorting and separating devices, educational standards and standardized testing, are so flawed not only in concept but in execution?
My answer is NO!!!!!
One final note with Wilson channeling Foucault and his concept of subjectivization:
“So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”
In other words students “internalize” what those “marks” (grades/test scores) mean, and since the vast majority of the students have not developed the mental skills to counteract what the “authorities” say, they accept as “natural and normal” that “story/description” of them. Although paradoxical in a sense, the “I’m an “A” student” is almost as harmful as “I’m an ‘F’ student” in hindering students becoming independent, critical and free thinkers. And having independent, critical and free thinkers is a threat to the current socio-economic structure of society.
Or his take down of the testing bible: “A Little Less than Valid: An Essay Review” found at:
Click to access v10n5.pdf
Were the NAEP scores going up even before Rhee?
Yes
Charters in Texas are fighting closure under “accountability” laws. The same thing happened in my state, Ohio.
It’s pretty rich, I’ll tell you. These are the same folks who cheered measures to close public schools, regardless of what parents or community people thought. Now that they’re on the chopping block, they have discovered all kinds of “nuance” and they don’t want a “one size fits all” approach.
Due process for me, but not for thee:
“In their lawsuit, the schools argued that because of the limited appeals, the administrative hearings violated their right to due process under the law. They also questioned why the new law had relied on accountability ratings that had predated its enactment. A Travis County district court granted a temporary injunction in May banning further action by the state for all three schools pending the resolution of the lawsuit.
The provision allowing for a speedier closure process was a selling point for lawmakers who otherwise opposed expanding a number of contracts the state awards. Charter advocates also supported the stricter measures, which they said would more quickly free up state contracts for high-quality operators and ensure low-performing schools did not continue to waste taxpayer funds.”
I bet they’re arguing that their schools have value outside of test scores. In other words, the same thing public schools have been arguing for a decade. Hey, maybe they DO have value outside of tests scores! I’m for due process for everyone, even them.
http://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/07/charters-push-back-against-new-laws-closure-measur/
It would be interesting to compare the effectiveness of the DC strategy to the changes in Michelle Rhee’s net worth. Maybe then we could see where the gains were truely made.
Touche!
excellent Michael:)
Prior to Michelle and Kaya’s arrival, there were real gains and real movement towards testing, teaching and curricula reform under Clifford Janney. That was probably the last time that children’s education and the teacher input mattered. Now we have the equivalent of a crap shoot with ensuing cruddy results with learning on the job…, well to call them educators would be an insult to the real ones.
Early on, PBS’s John Merrow followed Rhee around with a documentary crew for two years, producing a dozen fawning PBS mini-documentaries about her reign as D.C. schools’ chancellor. Initially, Merrow was a “true believer” in Rhee, until he saw the light years later:
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6490
(CAPS are mine, Jack)
———————————————————
JOHN MERROW: “Some of the bloom came off the rose in March 2011 when USA Today reported on a rash of ‘wrong-to-right’ erasures on standardized tests and the Chancellor’s reluctance to investigate. With subsequent tightened test security, Rhee’s dramatic test scores gains have all but disappeared. Consider Aiton Elementary: The year before Ms. Rhee arrived, 18% of Aiton students scored proficient in math and 31% in reading. Scores soared to nearly 60% on her watch, but by 2012 both reading and math scores had plunged more than 40 percentile points.
“But it’s not just the test scores that have gone down. Six years after Michelle Rhee rode into town, THE (Washington, D.C.) PUBLIC SCHOOLS SEEM TO BE WORSE OFF BY ALMOST EVERY CONCEIVABLE MEASURE.
“For teachers, DCPS has become a revolving door. Half of all newly hired teachers (both rookies and experienced teachers) leave within two years; by contrast, the national average is understood to be between three and five years. Veterans haven’t stuck around either. After just two years of Rhee’s reforms, 33% of all teachers on the payroll departed; after 4 years, 52% left.
“It has been a revolving door for principals as well. Ms. Rhee appointed 91 principals in her three years as chancellor, 39 of whom no longer held those jobs in August 2010. Some chose to leave; others, on one-year contracts, were fired for not producing quickly enough. Several schools are reported to have had three principals in three years.
“Child psychiatrists have long known that, to succeed, children need stability. Because many of the District’s children face multiple stresses at home and in their neighborhoods, schools are often that rock. However, in Ms. Rhee’s tumultuous reign, thousands of students attended schools where teachers and principals were essentially interchangeable parts, a situation that must have contributed to the instability rather than alleviating it.”
———————————————————
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Once Merrow changed his tune and started producing a long-form documentary critical of Rhee, Rhee cut loose the leashes on her vicious attack dogs to tear Merrow’s flesh:
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=7080
———————————————————
JOHN MERROW: “While we were actively investigating Rhee’s response to the erasures for a Frontline documentary, I found myself the victim of a carefully targeted smear campaign. A 10-page letter dated January 24, 2012 and sent to Frontline, the NewsHour, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, accuses me:
” — of “demonstrable and material misrepresentations of fact.”
” — of soliciting funds from “a wide swath of leaders in the education community including opponents of education reform and vocal critics of Michelle Rhee.”
” — of actively seeking “dirt” about Rhee and of hanging up on someone who praised Rhee.
” — of making “false allegations” about Rhee’s response to the widespread erasures.
“The letter, signed by a StudentsFirst Vice President, urges PBS not to broadcast my reporting and closes by noting that “we are discussing our options with our attorneys.”
“According to reliable sources inside StudentsFirst, Anita Dunn organized the carefully targeted smear campaign. Hoping to learn more about her work for Rhee and StudentsFirst, I have called Dunn’s office at least four times but have not been able to interview her. [9]
“Every one of the accusations in the StudentsFirst letter is false, as I painstakingly demonstrated to Frontline, the NewsHour, PBS and CPB. However, ‘The Big Lie’ technique is effective, as others before Dunn have proven, because I spent three weeks marshalling the evidence to refute the charges, three weeks that I could not spend investigating Rhee’s behavior in regards to the erasures.
“It is possible that I lost more than three weeks, because, even with the proof I supplied, I cannot say with certainty that none of the mud stuck. Is it possible that some who received the missive still have lingering doubts about my integrity? I hope not, of course, but I have no way of looking inside the minds of the letter’s recipients.”
————-
It was while researching this documentary, an insider gave Merrow the infamous memo proving that Rhee ignored evidence of administrators’ cheating. Rhee had been bragging about some short-term increases on tests, and the evidence of cheating would have totally discredited these gains… so she buried it.
It would be interesting to see how Ms. Brown’s income from her “corporate reform” activism compares to her predecessor Michelle Rhee, who makes more in an hour of bashing public school teachers & their unions as the average starting teacher makes in a year—while we have to read the outrageous stuff that her supporters claim about how self-less and noble she is..
Below, we can read as one of her backers blathers about how Rhee is now “shunning high salaries” to “improve the lot of our nation’s students,” and how she was targeted and victimized in D.C. because she “put students first.”
Check out what WAITING FOR SUPERMAN director Davis Guggenheim wrote in his blurb accompanying her page in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Important People list:
(CAPS are mine… Jack… it’s in the last paragraph)
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066128,00.html
—————————————
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
“She (Michelle Rhee) SET A GOAL TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THE NATION’S STUDENTS, and she has stuck to that. And she PAID DEARLY FOR IT, stepping down from her D.C. post in 2010 after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his bid for re-election, a public rejection that some saw as A REPUDIATION OF THE TOUGH STEPS to raise the standards of the city’s public schools.
“Subsequently, SHE SHUNNED ANY HIGH-SALARY OFFERS that resulted from her high-profile tenure and INSTEAD FOUNDED HER OWN ORGANIZATION.
” ‘PUTTING KIDS FIRST’ could be a pithy slogan. For many it is.FOR RHEE, IT’S A LIFELONG COMMITMENT.”
—————————————
Hey Davis, you know who else has to “pay dearly”? The folks who have to pay to have this woman speak for an hour or two!
Ms. Rhee may have “shunned any high salary offers” after the voters of D.C. ran her out of town, but she sure isn’t shy about lapping up her $50K / hour speaking fees!
(NOTE: her 2013 STUDENTS FIRST tax forms indicate she currently makes $350,000 annually… isn’t that “a high salary?)
It’s nice that her “lifelong commitment” to “putting kids first” pays so well.
Here’s Hollywood agency CAA’s promo blurb for her:
http://caaspeakers.com/michelle-rhee/
——————————————————————-
“In the ever-evolving landscape of education in America, Michelle Rhee has been working tirelessly for the past two decades to give children the skills and knowledge they will need to compete in a changing world.
“From adding instructional time after school and visiting students’ homes as a third grade teacher in Baltimore, to hosting hundreds of community meetings and creating a Youth Cabinet to bring students’ voices into reforming the DC Public Schools, Michelle has always been guided by one core principle: put students first.”
——————————————————————
Wow, Rhee has “been guided by one core principle: put students first.”
How touching and noble of her? Given that moving statement, I’m sure that—like Dr. Ravitch—Ms. Rhee probably donates her time to give speeches and make appearances… at most only asking to have her expenses covered.
Wait a sec. I just found something on-line. It says that… Ms. Rhee… NO, I DON’T BELIEVE IT… SOMEBODY’S LYING OR MAKING THIS UP TO HARM HER REPUTATION…
No… it says that… she actually CHARGES MONEY (???!!!) for her speeches?
Say it ain’t so!
And that, when giving speeches, she is represented by the top Hollywood agency C.A.A., Creative Artists Agency?
Well, I’m sure her pay is just a small honorarium… as, like you, Dr. Ravitch, her true motives are to improve the educational lives of children, and to make sure every child has a great teacher at the front of his or her classroom, and, as Davis Guggenheim puts it, her mission to “put students first,” while “shunning high salaries.”
What’s that? It’s NOT just a token honorarium. Let me guess…
$1,000?
$2,000?
Higher? You gotta be kidding!
$5,000?
$10,000?
Get outta town!
$15,000?
$20,000?
What? She gets more than that just for an hour or two of speaking and answering questions?
Really? It’s actually higher?
$25,000?
$30,000?
Okay, someone’s just winding me up here. There’s NO WAY she charges more than THAT!!!
$50,000!
BINGO!!!!!
$50,000???!!! I don’t believe it.
Somebody’s gotta be making that up to discredit Ms. Rhee. It’s probably some evil, corrupt defenders-of-a-failed-status-quo teachers union thugs who put adult teachers’ interests ahead of children/students’ interest that hacked into C.A.A.’s website and created… yeah, it’s probably them who are making up and spreading these lies in an effort to harm Ms. Rhee’s reputation, and protect those teachers’ own selfish interest and cushy jobs-for-life.
Apparently not.
Some enterprising writer named Molly Bloom at the on-line publication STATE IMPACT actually got a copy of the contract that Rhee uses for her personal appearances and posted it on-line.
Oh, will you just shut up and gimme that link!
http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2011/10/10/michelle-rhee-to-speak-at-kent-statestark-prompts-faculty-to-organize-counter-event/
What’s that? Just scroll down and you can see
a scanned copy of Rhee’s boilerplate contract? Hmmm….
Yep! There it is… In the contract posted, $35,000 is indeed what she’s getting paid to speak at Kent State, plus a bunch o’ FIRST CLASS expenses. .. (She claims here that she was discounting her usual $50,000 / hour fee because the venue, Kent State, was “a school.)
The contract posted is the actual one used for Ms. Rhee’s appearance at at Kent State University,
Why, that’s SECOND worst atrocity ever associated with that school’s history. (“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming… Four dead in O – hi – o… “)
(Watch this whole video… it’s pretty well done!)
I like how the “Purchaser”—the entity or person who hires her— sends the payment to:
“Rhee Enterprises, LLC” (PAGE 2)
Helping improve the education of children and “putting students first” is a lucrative Big Business, apparently.
There’s more on PAGE 3:
——————————————————————
“a. Purchaser shall provide the Artist with one (1) First Class round-trip, unrestricted, fully-refundable airplane tickets, or cash equivalent, at Artist’s election;
“b. Purchaser shall one (1) VIP hotel suite; Purchaser to make and confirm reservations in consultation with the Artist; Artist reserves the right to choose hotel;
“c. Purchaser to provide the Artist with meals and all reasonable incidentals;
“d. Purchase shall provide Artist with a towncar and Professional Driver for round-trip transportation from the Artist’s home to the airport, airport to hotel, hotel to engagement, or any combination thereof;”
——————————————————————
Yes, that’s right… Rhee demands not just a hotel room, but a “VIP hotel suite” at a hotel approved by her, as well as a towncar with a chauffer to drive her around???!!!
Come one. Be fair. Don’t beat up on Rhee because of this. You need all that if you’re going to be “putting students first.”
Item 6 is telling. Michelle or her agent crosses out the following:
——————————————————————
(CROSSED OUT WITH A PEN)
“6. RESPONSIBILITY for EVENT-RELATED TAXES. Purchase agrees to pay any and all local, State, and/or Federal rental, amusement, sales or other taxes as required by law.”
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Next to the crossing out, Michelle or her agent scrawls,
“TAX EXEMPT”…
… as Students First is a non-profit organization.
Awww, that’s too bad. That money would have gone to the state’s general fund for education, as Ohio schools are hurting for cash right now.
Item 9 is interesting:
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“9. ARTIST’S MERCHANDISING RIGHTS. Artist shall have the right, but not the obligation, to sell souvenir programs and other merchandising items on the premises on the place of the presentation without participation by the Purchaser, subject to local venue’s contract requirements, if any, of which the Artist is notified in writing.”
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(INSERT JOKE HERE… it’s too easy… i.e. Michelle Rhee T-shirts, action figures, etc.)
There’s also a pay-or-play clause, which means that if the event is cancelled for any reason, you have to pay Michelle her $35K anyway.
Reading this I feel like I’m watching a final scene of “THE WOLF OF WALL STREET”, where the slimebucket and convicted Wall Street felon Jordan Belfort now makes a cushy living as a “motivational speaker.”
God save us all!
Interesting article on Campbell Brown in Esquire. Shows up her past and her choices to rise in the world of talking heads. But most telling is her husband, Dan Senor, and his legislative and hedge fund actions.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Campbell_Brown_Moment
Rhee and Henderson “fixed” the DC schools in remarkably similar fashion to the way Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay “fixed” the quarterly financial reports for Enron.
Bingo!
Michael Fiorillo:
TAGO!
😎
From the Brandenburg article at;
Seriously, how can this be good for students academic outcomes:
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BRANDENBURG: “Yes, they (Rhee & Co.) got rid of just about all the veteran teachers
” — fired without cause… (like some of my former colleagues,) or
” — resigned under duress (ditto), or
” — just plain retired (like me).
“And at some schools, 100% of the staff is turned over EVERY SINGLE YEAR as bright-eyed TFA and TNTP recruits are ground to shreds with insane demands and no support, so they quit mid-year.”
It is nice to see that other’s are becoming aware, or rather are making more public the fallout of Michelle Rhee. And i have to say, Diane I read your most recent book, and had to present to a class i was in on your chapter about Michelle Rhee. And i have to say it was very well put together and well thought out. Though it is funny to me that just about everything you where talking about, and everything you predicted is in fact true.
At any rate, i think it is ridiculous that people are still trying to say that there has been an increase in the percentage of proficient students. its a 1.6% margin of just one category of students. In the science world a margin that small is discounted as human error or insignificant….so not exactly sure how it counts here….
Before and After Rhee NAEP article. Janney had the system on an upward trajectory. If memory serves me she and Fenty took credit for the rise in NAEP and the DC-CAS that year.
http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2013/01/peddling-rhee-what-naep-scores-actually.html
Rhee lies. Rhee cheats. Rhee covers up sex scandals for hubby #2.
Rhee returns to scene of scandal http://t.co/6shoK63Nko
http://t.co/a385MzKRAY
Posting in two segments so I don’t have to await moderation
Rhee lies. Rhee cheats. Rhee covers up sex scandals for hubby #2.
Rhee returns to scene of scandal http://t.co/6shoK63Nko
And the police report:
http://t.co/a385MzKRAY
In the comments section to the first post, Retired Linda made a great analogy. She pointed out the article in the L.A. Times reporting a study that shows that people with diabetes have worse outcomes in poor neighborhoods than wealthy neighborhoods. She continues…
“Now, let us say that California decided to improve this situation by targeting clinics in low-income areas and firing all the “bad” doctors. Do you think this would help? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Fortunately, in this situation, lawmakers are listening to the diabetes experts who are advocating better primary care and education for low-income diabetics. This should help because the solutions match the causes of poor diabetic care within the state. My guess is that in the near future, we’ll see improvement in diabetic treatment (fewer amputations) for poor people. ”
I just had to share.
Eng. Teacher,
Thanks for sharing the perfect analogy.
The politicians and deformers are already neck deep in hypocrisy.
They’ve taken absurdity to unprecedented levels.