Archives for category: Rhee, Michelle
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Schneider Reviews Rhee’s Tax Forms

By dianeravitch
October 24, 2013 //
35

Mercedes Schneider here analyzes the tax returns submitted by Michelle Rhee for her two organizations. One engages in political activities, and the other is an advocacy group.

Rhee gives generous contributions to those who seek the privatization of public education.

Schneider notes the close connection between Rhee and the creators of Common Core.

She concludes her review with these thoughts:

“In reading these tax documents, I cannot help but wonder if our democracy is such a farce that it will crumble beneath the weight of the wallets of the wealthy removed. I wonder what it will take for them to realize that they are foolishly destroying the foundation upon which they themselves stand. In their arrogant fiscal elevation they forget that even they require the foundational institutions that form our democracy– public education being one such institution…..

“Here’s a hint: When you hear that a candidate in a local election is being outspent by 10- or 20-to-1, vote for that candidate.”

Categories Privatization, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Vouchers

Elaine Weiss: Rhee vs. Ravitch

By dianeravitch
October 19, 2013 //
4

Elaine Weiss of the Broader Bolder Approach appraises the dichotomous views of Michelle Rhee and me.

Which is fact and which is fiction?

Come to the Economic Policy Institute in D.C. this Friday at noon to hear these issues discussed. I will be there with Elaine Weiss and Randi Weingarten.

Categories Poverty, Ravitch, Diane, Rhee, Michelle

EduShyster: Adell Cothorne Speaks!

By dianeravitch
October 2, 2013 //
32

Adell Cothorne is the brave principal in Washington, D.C., who reported to her headquarters that she saw cheating going on. She was featured on a PBS Frontline special about the uncertain legacy of Michelle Rhee. What happened after she reported cheating by a group of staff? Nothing. Nothing except she became persona non grata for blowing the whistle.

For a long time, her lawyer told her to remain silent.

Now she speaks, and EduShyster offered her this column.

Adell is, pardon the expression, a hero. She spoke out when she saw wrongdoing. She risked her job and career because she could not remain silent.

She belongs on the honor roll of this blog. All schools deserve teachers and principals as courageous and kind and dedicated as Adell Cothorne.

Categories Honor Roll, Ravitch, Diane, Rhee, Michelle

Mercedes Schneider Writes an Open Letter to John Merrow

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2013 //
19

Mercedes Schneider teaches in Louisiana. She has repeatedly explained that there was no “New Orleans Miracle,” as the media wants us to believe.

In this post, she expresses her disappointment that John Merrow refuses to accept her invitation to meet her in New Orleans and refuses to acknowledge her existence. And she chastises him for abandoning his pursuit of the facts in DC.

Of course, anyone who thinks (as Merrow does) that KIPP is in the “messy middle,” never boasting of their miraculous successes, has a very different world view from Mercedes Schneider.

Categories Charter Schools, New Orleans, Rhee, Michelle

Can Schools End Poverty?

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2013 //
44

Matt Bruenig has written in many journals. He also has
a blog, where this post appeared. He analyzes a fairly
straightforward question: Can schools end poverty? The column is a
commentary on the “reformers” who say that we can’t end poverty
until we fix schools, or something to that effect. We have heard
the same statement from Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joel Klein,
Bill Gates, and others. Duncan says that even the President agrees.
Bruenig analyzes these three statements:

  1. Education is a way to end
    poverty.
  2. Education is the best
    way     to end poverty.
  3. Education
    is the only way to end
    poverty.

He starts his short analysis with
this statement: These are all false, but since number
three is the one Rhee and Duncan and the education reformer crowd
pushes, let’s start there. It is flatly not the case that to end
poverty you need to alter education. Americans should know this.
Starting from the 1960s, we
as a society cut outrageously high rates of elderly poverty by
71%. We did that by sending old people checks called
Social Security. We also know from international data that
low-poverty countries get that way through tax and transfer
schemes, not unlike Social Security (I, II).
If you are saying nothing but education will dramatically cut
poverty, when things other than education absolutely will and have,
you are an enemy of the poor. You are contributing to a discursive
world where people ignore the easiest, most proven ways to cut
poverty. If this is true, and I think it is, all the
energy and billions expended on school reforms that are totally
lacking in evidence–like VAM and merit pay and privatization of
public funds–is a handy distraction from meaningful ways to end
poverty.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Poverty, Rhee, Michelle

Jersey Jazzman Asks a Good Question

By dianeravitch
September 29, 2013 //
48

Jersey Jazzman wonders why I have not been invited to appear on any of the national television shows, not only because I represent a challenge to the status quo but because my new book. Published September 17, will appear as #10 on the Néw Uork Times bestseller list next week.

The good news is that I received an invitation to appear on the Chris Hayes’ MSNBC show next Friday October 4.

Still hoping for an invitation to The Daily Show, as I love Jon Stewart.

Rachel Maddow is a puzzle.

The fact is that most Americans get their news from television.

I will keep hoping that the national media will give me a chance, not equal time, but a chance to refute the status quo that is harming our children and educators.

Categories Ravitch, Diane, Rhee, Michelle

Do You Need a Laugh Today? Read This.

By dianeravitch
September 28, 2013 //
18

Julian Vasquez Heilig is the most creative blogger I know in terms of his brilliant combination of flashy graphics, research, and informed commentary.

Here he describes the century-long battle between the managerial elites—who believe that schools can be improved by data, management, mandates and standardization, always controlled by them–and the pedagogical crowd–who have fought the managers that the starting point in education is the students, how they learn, what they need, not the management.

It is Taylor vs. Dewey.

The Taylorites run the show for now. They ARE the status quo.

The day of reckoning is coming.

They are losing because everything they have done has failed.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top, Rhee, Michelle, Students

Rhee Vs. Ravitch in Philadelphia

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2013 //
27

As it happened, Michelle Rhee and I nearly crossed paths in
Philadelphia. This
article describes our contrasting visions for the public
schools of Philadelphia. She spoke on September 16, in a panel that
included George Parker, the former head of the Washington Teachers
Union, who now works for Rhee, and Steve Perry, ex-CNN commentator.

Governor Tom Corbett cut $1 billion from the schools in 2011, while cutting corporate taxes. He later added back a small part of the cut, but he left many districts in terrible fiscal trouble.

Philadelphia public schools have a deficit of $300 million, and
thousands of staff have been laid off, including teachers, guidance
counselors, social workers, librarians, and many others. Bear in mind that the Philadelphia public schools have been under state control for more than a decade. During that time, Superintendent Paul Vallas launched the nation’s most sweeping privatization experiment, which failed, according to independent evaluations.

According to this article (and in an op-ed published in the Philadelphia
Inquirer), Rhee saw the fiscal crisis as an opportunity to
introduce performance pay. How that would close the budget deficit
was unclear.

In my presentation at the Philadelphia Free Library, I read the language of the state
constitution, which unequivocally assigns responsibility to the
state of Pennsylvania to support a thorough and efficient education
for every child. That is not the case today. Governor Tom Corbett
expects the state-controlled School Reform Commission to squeeze
savings out of the teachers’ contracts, cutting salaries, benefits,
and laying off more teachers. That is not the way to go.

Someday the children of Philadelphia will be the voters of Pennsylvania or
some other state. They must be educated to choose their leaders
wisely. Someday these children may sit on a jury where YOU will be
judged. Just hope that they have the wisdom, knowledge, and
compassion to judge you fairly. My view: The children of
Philadelphia are as worthy of a good education as the children in
the nearby suburbs. They need small classes, experienced teachers,
arts programs, well-maintained facilities, guidance counselors,
libraries staffed by librarians, up-to-date technology. They need
what the parents in the suburbans want for their children. And they
deserve nothing less.

Categories Education Reform, Merit pay, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Rhee, Michelle

Andrew Delbanco Reviews Rhee and Ravitch

By dianeravitch
September 26, 2013 //
54

Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University contrasts the recent books
by Michelle Rhee and me in the New York Review of Books.

Read it and let me know what you think.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Ravitch, Diane, Reign of Error, Rhee, Michelle

Arthur Goldstein: Beware the Middle of the Road!

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2013 //
14

Earlier this week, I was interviewed on NPR’s “On Point.” In the second part of the hour, the show brought on some young woman whose name I can’t remember. They said she used to work for Michelle Rhee and that she worked (or used to work) for Rhee’s TNTP (the New Teacher Project). I recall that her big complaint was that I failed to find common ground with corporate reformers. She said she had interviewed 50 leading thinkers inside the Beltway, and they think there is too much testing. She seemed to believe this was far more decisive than, say, the injurious effects of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, or even the copious graphs in the appendix of my new book, which show that test scores and graduation rates in the U.S. are at a historic high point and the dropout rate is at a historic low point.

She then published a piece on Huffington Post, again making her case for “the middle of the road,” which is where she thinks “reformers” like Michelle Rhee are to be found.

Arthur Goldstein responded to her post with this hilarious and biting analysis. He begins by quoting my fellow Texan Jim Hightower, who famously said that “yellow stripes and dead armadillos are the only things you’ll find in the middle of the road.”

The author of the post (sorry but her name eludes me) on Huffington describes me, apparently, as “simplistic.” Goldstein disagrees.

Goldstein responds:

So let’s understand this. The corporate reformers oppose vouchers, but won’t say they do. The important thing is to move the kids from so-called failing schools. Whether or not they address the underlying issues that cause low test scores, like poverty, learning disabilities, or lack of English, is of no consequence. Note also that Levin says nothing whatsoever to suggest these “moderates” oppose privatization or for-profit schools in any way whatsoever. Yet she has the audacity to refer to Ravitch as “simplistic.” Simplistic is a word I’d use for anyone uncritically viewing Levin’s piece.Levin further contends that reformy folk does not overemphasize testing. I’m not sure which astral plane Ms. Levin resides in, but in this one high-stakes tests determine whether or not schools stay open, and whether or not teachers remain employed. Levin praises Race to the Top, which enables this. She seems blissfully unaware there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that there is any validity whatsoever to value-added ratings. Even as Teach for America inductees actively steal the jobs of laid-off Chicago teachers, Levin musters the audacity to suggest that it does not endorse any radical agenda, and implies that Ravitch is delusional to suggest anything of the sort.  Doubtless if scab labor took Levin’s job, or jobs or her friends and family, she’d beam with approval.

What really amazes me about this column is the complete and utter ignorance of the role of unions. Levin characterizes them as obstructionist, but I’ve watched as my union embraced mayoral control, and then supported it again after it was fairly well-established as an anti-democratic disaster. UFT had a hand in writing the state evaluation law and boasted that “objective” measures only made up 40% of a teacher rating. They must have forgotten that any teacher failing that 40% must be rated ineffective overall. UFT supported charters, and even co-located to start one. UFT supported a failed merit pay program. Of course, that’s not all that unique, since all such programs have failed. And UFT supports Common Core, which adds yet another layer of testing to the tangled web that appears to have eluded Ms. Levin.

If this is the best they can muster against Diane Ravitch, they’d better hope that absolutely no one reads her new book.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Rhee, Michelle, Unions
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