Michelle Rhee to meet with governor, lawmakers next week
Michelle Rhee
The House Education Committee and Gov. Nathan Deal will meet with former DC chancellor and education reformer of the moment Michelle Rhee next week.
Rhee now heads StudentsFirst, a group dedicated to education reform beginning with “evaluating teachers based on evidence of student results rather than arbitrary judgments.” With Georgia poised to reform its teacher evaluations as part of its Race to the Top commitment, Rhee will likely be talking about how best to do that with legislators.
Just received this formal announcement:
In lieu of our regular weekly meeting next week, the House Education Committee members are invited to a luncheon to meet Michelle Rhee, the former Chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools and leading proponent of education reform in the United States, on Thursday, February 10, at noon at the Capitol. Prior to our luncheon, Ms. Rhee will be meeting with Governor Deal at 11:00 a.m.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
92 comments Add your comment
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
4:14 pm
dd-
It is a fair question that deserves an answer. I will answer for myself and do not attempt to represent all teachers.
I am afraid not for myself, but for public schools in general. I fear that public schools will become test-taking mills with little time for critical thinking.
If my pay is tied to a test, what incentive do I have to teach anything other than what is on that test? Why have my students read novels? They won’t have novels on the test. Why have my students study Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar?” They could only fit a monologue or two on the test. Why not just have them read a monologue or two and move on?
Then there is the fact that standardized tests DISCOURAGE complex thought:
“A kid raises his hand during the drill-and-kill test. “I’m supposed to find the main idea of a book that is about the desert, but the options are Cactus Heat, By the Ocean and Mountain Drought and Shrinking Ice Caps. All of these will work. Chile has a desert that’s nestled right up against the ocean. Mountains have deserts, too. And one of the largest deserts is freezing cold. Hasn’t the test-maker ever heard of Antarctica? See, a desert isn’t simply hot and flat. It’s about precipitation.”
On another test, he asks, “I’m supposed to say how many people will be at the party. If I’m not counting myself, this works out just fine. But if I’m not then it won’t work. The test question doesn’t ask, but I think it’s rude to not attend your own birthday party.” He’s right. The correct answer could be 12 or 13, which is B or C.
He raises his hand five times when the question reads, “Which is the best question for . . . ” and says, “They’re making the subjective into something objective. Why can’t they just let me write my own question and judge that instead?”
No one asks him to defend his answers. No one gives him a chance to clarify a question. Given his special education accommodations, I can re-read a question but I can’t explain it. The system is set up to efficiently measure critical thinking and few people seem to question whether higher order questioning belongs with a low-order format (multiple choice).” ~borrowed from a fellow teacher
Tonya C.
February 3rd, 2011
4:14 pm
Springdale Park Parent:
Dr. Hall is a fat Michelle Rhee. If you don’t believe that you’ve never met her. She is just as demanding and abrasive, and also cold and domineering. It’s this attitude and disposition that led to the APS cheating scandal in the first place. So many people will scream bloody murder about a child fearing an adult but is an adult fearing an adult any better?
Good teachers know Bad Teachers...
February 3rd, 2011
4:16 pm
All it takes is for the Good Teachers to make Bad Teachers accountable. Peer to Peer impact works for any group! We all seek the approval of our peers. Welcome to Atlanta Ms. Rhee. Some of us teachers actually get it and it looks as though our Governor might get it too!
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
4:24 pm
Last thing then I will shush:
There would be time for novels, critical thinking, and questioning as opposed to answering in HIGHER INCOME schools where kids would have more access to testing tutors. The high income schools don’t have to worry about drill-and-kill because many of their students come with homes with books, so they can read more proficiently. Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley, child psychologists at the University of Kansas did in depth research on this and found:
*By age three a child of poverty already has only half the vocabulary of a middle income child, that is, 525 words compared to 1,100.
*By age six the child of poverty has been exposed to a mere 25 hours of picture book reading, compared to 1,350 hours for a middle income child. That’s 50 times the picture book reading experience.
*By the end of second grade kids who have a vocabulary of 8,000 words will become honor roll students by 7th grade. Kids of poverty, with 4,000 words, will be failing by 7th grade.
That means that teachers in high poverty areas are trying to compensate for these deficiencies. Use test scores to raise their pay, and they have little incentive to focus on anything but the most basic, testable skills. Whereas, teachers in high income areas can count that their students will come in with those skills so they can focus on more innovative, abstract concepts.
My biggest fear? All of this emphasis of test-taking will create a permanent underclass.
Tonya C.
February 3rd, 2011
4:24 pm
Good teachers know Bad Teachers:
How do you do that? What if the principal LOVES the bad teacher despite complaints up the yin yang? What if the bad teacher knows somebody in the central office? What if the bad teacher has been complained on by peers by the administration is to lazy or scared to document for fear of a lawsuit?
Not everyone seeks the approval of their peers. I work in corporate America and have enough empirical evidence to blow that hypothesis right out of the water.
dd
February 3rd, 2011
4:26 pm
JK, a good teacher will always improve the test scores of their students as a group. The process that you describe sounds like an excellent one, that will result in improvement of said test scores. There is no better way to measure teacher effectiveness. None. The “watch you teach twice a year”, “doesn’t ruffle feathers”, “Kids like them”, etc is not effective.
Again, my wife was a HS math teacher, who semester after semester had parents move their kids into her class, since she was known as one of the best (and toughest) teacher in the department. Meanwhile, the awful teachers (and yes, there are awful teachers at each HS…..amazes me, but for some reason the administration does little about it in spite of parents bringing it to their attention semester after semester….destroys that idea of “how easy it is to fire a bad teacher in GA”).
She left in part because not only was she not rewarded for being one of the best, but was in fact penalized (higher workload), while the awful teachers workload was reduced. How does that make ANY sense, and yet every teacher on this blog knows it’s how things work.
So, again, anything that objectively points out the awful teachers, and leads to them being removed from the classroom, is a good thing for the better teachers as well. IMO, once outstanding teaching is truly appreciated and rewarded, and awful teaching leads to dismissal, we’ll have the quality schools that we want.
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
4:26 pm
For anyone who would like to read the research to which I refer:
http://www.treehouselearning.com/pdf/The_Early_Catastrophe__The_30_Million_Word_Gap_by_Age3.pdf
Tonya C.
February 3rd, 2011
4:33 pm
dd:
You just explained why bad teachers are where they are, “Because despite complaints to administration they were never dealt with.” Whose fault was that? The system exist and CAN be used by those willing to use it. I’ve seen it take place with principals with a backbone in the course of six months.
My biggest fear is the kids who need the best teachers still won’t get them, because there isn’t enough money in the world for many teachers to risk their certification to teach the lowest and most needy of students. And that despite promises, this money will never materialize to pay people as promised and that is a very real risk.
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
4:34 pm
dd- I absolutely agree with what you are saying, but I think we arguing different sides of the same coin.
I think there should be recognition for good teachers.Your wifeand other good teachers deserve recognition. I don’t even think there should be a problem with tying pay to it.
Sadly, I don’t think GA, especially when consulting Rhee, will base evaluations on anything other than those test scores. The result? Cheating and test-mill factories. The students will suffer.
My solution? Why not reward good teachers by recognizing advanced, LEGITIMATE degrees, National Board Certification, community involvement, innovate curriculum development, and some small portion of a national test like the NAEP?
Why would GA not do that? It’s simple. Money. We don’t have the money to do it. So what will they do? They will punish wonderful teachers like your wife by gauging her payscale on her newly increased workload and multiple classes. I don’t trust GA to do it right.
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
4:36 pm
*innovative not innovate….burnt my finger this morning making Romeo and Juliet costumes….
dd
February 3rd, 2011
4:36 pm
Tonya, I hear you. My hope (OK…….hope is not a strategy, I know….) is that as the awful teachers are removed from the classroom, they’ll be replaced by teachers who are effective. Maybe a pipe dream, I know. But has to be tried.
Realist
February 3rd, 2011
4:45 pm
DC is certainly the model I would be looking to. Highest per-student spending in the nation and pretty much the worst performance. Who says throwing more money at a problem won’t fix it?? (Hint, everyone who has seriously looked at government school performance).
How long will the history of failed experiments continue before everyone wakes up and realizes the true root cause and the true solution? The free market.
dd
February 3rd, 2011
4:46 pm
JK, you might have been in the school system, but if so, I’m surprised you aren’t more concerned about how the awful teachers just aren’t removed, but allowed to stay and teach. My kids(3) have gone through public schools, and my wife taught. And it has always amazed me how the awful teachers just stay around year after year.
IMO, this is more destructive to the morale and attitude of the good teachers than any lack of recognition and reward. And my hope is that “value add” quantified by test results will finally be the objective proof that requires administrators to do something that is very hard…….and takes way too much effort…..to remove the awful teachers.
Tonya C.
February 3rd, 2011
4:55 pm
dd:
I had hope before working in the central office of an Atlanta school system. Now…not so much. My husband is a teacher, and understand your frustration. He is loved by staff and students, but I am encouraging him to leave the profession. Not just the crappy money, but the lack of respect and now the risk of losing his license for test scores (especially working with at-risk kids) is NOT worth it. Good and even great teachers are not afraid of VAM, but fear how changes in student population from year-to-year could end their careers forever. Especially those who work with low-performing or special needs students.
Tonya C.
February 3rd, 2011
4:58 pm
I actually think Michelle Rhee coming here is not an issue compared to the fact that I would like to see current teachers represented at a function of this nature. The lack of presence of even the individuals nominated for teacher of the year in various school districts around the state speaks volumes to the level of respect these politicians have for the soldiers on the ground so to speak.
Ed Johnson
February 3rd, 2011
5:09 pm
Here are the people to protest to, the House Education Committee members…
kathy.ashe@house.ga.gov, rick.austin@house.ga.gov, paul.battles@house.ga.gov, tommy.benton@house.ga.gov, amy.carter@house.ga.gov, david.casas@house.ga.gov, valerie.clark@house.ga.gov, brooks.coleman@house.ga.gov, tom.dickson@house.ga.gov, mike.dudgeon@house.ga.gov, terry.england@house.ga.gov, hugh.floyd@house.ga.gov, wayne.howard@house.ga.gov, jan.jones@house.ga.gov, mkaiser2@comcast.net, edward.lindsey@house.ga.gov, howard.maxwell@house.ga.gov, rahn.mayo@house.ga.gov, alisha.morgan@house.ga.gov, randy.nix@house.ga.gov, ann.purcell@house.ga.gov, barbara.reece@house.ga.gov, ed.setzler@house.ga.gov, willie.talton@house.ga.gov, rashad.taylor@house.ga.gov, sam.teasley@house.ga.gov, brian.thomas@house.ga.gov, andrew.welch@house.ga.gov
Dave
February 3rd, 2011
5:34 pm
And just how many years of teaching experience does Wonder Woman have?
yikes!
February 3rd, 2011
5:47 pm
Read this blog:
http://supportpubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/01/un-rhee-sonable-approach.html
Pete
February 3rd, 2011
5:51 pm
I don’t have a problem with Michelle Rhee or her ideas, but having her pitch to the legislature? These folks will be positively dangerous with a little knowledge gained over a few hours listening to Ms. Rhee.
Common Sense
February 3rd, 2011
5:59 pm
As far as Rhee is concerned, I think people need to look at what the benefits show long term. The Washington D.C. crowd, thus far, can’t find any. Read the local newspapers in D.C. Her success was all talk and very little progress, if any progress at all.
Lesson: Parents must be involved. Famous doctor Ben Carson’s mother had a 3rd grade education. As her sons got older, she could hardly read their homework assignments BUT she made sure that they completed their homework or “you know what” would happen.
We are also nation that’s lacking in community. For example, if the neighbor saw you doing something stupid, you would be in serious trouble. But now, neighbors get cursed out for telling parents about what their kids are doing…what in the world is going on?
Parents, we don’t have eyes in the back of our heads, so we need all the help we can get. We must stop easily providing our children with numerous toys. Make them clean the kitchen, scrub the walls, mop, clean the yard, clean the bathroom, etc. Stop them from talking back because if they do it at home, they will do it at school. They have responsibilities and “we” (the parents) are the reason why our kids aren’t rising to the top.
Unfortunately, I do realize that some parents WANT their kids to be guinea pigs and thus a person like Michelle Rhee or whoever else is the flavor of the month, will continue to prosper ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.
Lastly, what are our kids going to do when they get 18. Have we prepared them? Will they progress enough to be able to feed themselves or will they live with us, FOREVER?
Mine already know that now is the time to get the tools you need to feed yourself because I don’t feed grown people. I remind them EVERYDAY!
No Teacher Left Behind
February 3rd, 2011
6:05 pm
Despite the hard economic times, we will soon begin to see extreme teacher shortages in Georgia and the rest of the nation. There is a limit as to how much nonsense we have to put up with. Waiting tables is beginning to look more and more appealing to me.
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
6:19 pm
dd- I’m teaching at a public school (Centennial High School) and went to Walton High School. I got very, very lucky in that then and now I have had very little contact with bad teachers. I know they exist, but I can’t attest the damage they do because I haven’t seen it first hand.
L- a History Lesson in APS!!!!!
February 3rd, 2011
6:49 pm
I would love to see the APS supporters shake it up!!!!! Redistrict!!! I say!!!!!! @Springdale Park Mom! Send your kids to school on the Southside of Atlanta why don’t you! If student achievement and quality teachers are prevalent then it wouldn’t matter where you send your child to school!!! Ask your glowing PTA if their willing to have our kids bussed to the Northside of town and see what the response will be!! I don’t think these teachers are lazy or whiny,I just think they see things that others don’t see. No parental support, dwindling budget, no money from the parents at all!!!! I think the cheating scandal was like “Ding Dong the witch is dead!” Now everyone wants to unveil what they were forced to do to try to make the impossible, possible. Give me a break!!!!!!!!!! You guys have no clue!!!
News India | News Hind » Michelle Rhee to meet with governor, lawmakers next week – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
February 3rd, 2011
7:09 pm
[...] the original post: Michelle Rhee to meet with governor, lawmakers next week – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) Tags: atlanta-journal, education, ideas-as-new, jewish-exponent, journal, news-articles, problem, [...]
ScienceTeacher671
February 3rd, 2011
8:22 pm
Repeat after me: “There are NO magic bullets. There are NO magic bullets.”
Toto: Exposing naked body scanners...
February 3rd, 2011
9:01 pm
Thank you Valerie Strauss. Your blog (Washington Post) “What Rhee’s comments about her children say about her” is superb. She reveals a few “inconsistencies” with Rhee’s public rhetoric and and private Korean convictions. All teachers should read it.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/michelle-rhee/what-rhees-comments-about-her.html
Jordan Kohanim
February 3rd, 2011
9:19 pm
Toto: Thank YOU for posting this! Great link!
Dr. John Trotter
February 3rd, 2011
9:52 pm
Michelle Rhee, like Arne Duncan, doesn’t know her butt from deep centerfield when it comes to public education, and our politicians of Georgia (and other states) continue to look to these false messiahs of education, hoping that urban education will improve. Not.
Ridiculous
February 3rd, 2011
10:09 pm
Another chance for Erin Hames to take credit for Race to the Top.
ScienceTeacher671
February 3rd, 2011
10:25 pm
I’ve come to the conclusion that we can have as our goal that all the students finish school in the same amount of time, or we can have the goal that all finish with at least the same minimum level of skills, but we can’t have both at the same time, since some learn more quickly than others.
What is it that we want?
Allison Adair
February 3rd, 2011
11:55 pm
First of all Maureen’s blog didn’t mention anything about Rhee and APS. But since every one keeps mentioning that, let me tell you a few facts about Rhee. She doesn’t report to a school board. She will only report to a mayor (or maybe even a govenor!?!). And, the first and only mayor she has ever reported to – Mayor Fenty – lost his re-election bid this past Fall solely because of Rhee. Look it up in the Washington Post! That doesn’t look like such a great vote of confidence. Past performance is present performance indicative.
Also, if you look into her test scores you will find out that there are some test anomolies that suggest a little skull-duggery such as the kind that occurred in APS under Dr. Beverly “Superstar” Hall and APS BOE. In fact, if my memory serves me right, Rhee actually said that she modeled herself after Dr. Hall. Don’t think we need a Dr. Hall mini-me.
Velian Hill
February 4th, 2011
12:16 am
I agree with the comments above that Georgia’s schools are fantastic, our kids are getting the best education possible so why consider any new ideas? Who needs Michelle Rhee? We don’t need to listen to anyone, especially some outsider.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I always say and Georgia’s schools are just fine thank you very much.
Jordan Kohanim
February 4th, 2011
7:54 am
@Velian— if you wish to use verbal irony to make your point, at least have a point. No one on this blog is arguing that GA schools are without need for reform. We are simply questioning the wisdom of consulting someone who has repeatedly failed to apply school reform successfully.
Surely you can understand the logic of our concern. Then again, perhaps you can’t.
Midtown Teacher
February 4th, 2011
9:12 am
Bullfrog and Sprindale Park parent – your posts on page one was fabulous. I can’t say it any better than what you wrote. I am a teacher and I completely agree.
@Question
February 4th, 2011
9:18 am
Michelle Rhee implemented a teacher evaluation in DC Public Schools, known as IMPACT. 50% of teacher’s evaluation was based on test scores. 5% based on the total school’s performance. The rest on other stuff like department head, APs, other administrative evaluations.
Dr. John Trotter
February 4th, 2011
4:54 pm
WARNING: Michelle Rhee will be a disaster like Beverly Hall has been. You heard it here first. Ha!
Bob Anjo
February 5th, 2011
1:29 am
Michelle Rhee, Too Will Pass – She didn’t last long in DC – long enough to screw things up.
SSTeacher
February 5th, 2011
10:40 am
It would be cool if someone took some masking tape and covered Rhee’s mouth because she was talking too much. Oh, wait – that’s what she did to her 8-year-old students during her lengthy 3-year stay in the classroom.
My guess as to why she did it … her students told her she was wrong, and that there was more to learning than taking a test.
http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2010/09/audio-michelle-rhees-masking-tape-story.html
Spacemom
February 5th, 2011
1:26 pm
I’m glad the education committee and the Governor are willing to listen to Ms. Rhee. Something must be done to get children to study hard, learn to identify and solve problems, etc. Then children will become interested in science, technology and mathematics.
Top School
February 5th, 2011
8:49 pm
Sounds like the leader at Jackson Elementary School…TALK ABOUT TAPE OVER THE MOUTH…This was a deposition…ANSWER YES, NO or I DON’T REMEMBER…Reich is also proud of her unethical words…from segregation to age discrimination. These crude leaders end up hanging themselves…
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSchoolAtlanta?feature=mhum
I guess she’s in the right company…the governor’s not all that either.
EmpowerED Georgia
February 6th, 2011
5:01 pm
http://empoweredga.org/rhee-action
Michelle Rhee to meet with governor, lawmakers next week « Loan Marketplace
February 10th, 2011
6:12 am
[...] article sourceKeep your new blog page vibrant by making use of Automated Blog Content given by means of BlogDominator.com [...]