Deemed Unfit in Michelle Rhee’s “Final Solution”

EdNotes has posted an email that he received concerning a dedicated and well respected DC teacher who was removed from his position at Woodrow Wilson High School.  Dr. Art Siebens is an 18 year veteran who has been removed during a “Restructuring” of the school.  Siebens was one of several teachers who were informed by [...]

Now They Notice?

14 months after Michelle Rhee became Chancellor of the DC Public Schools, parents, educators and other advocates are apparently feeling “marginalized”.  According to Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post, the above-mentioned groups have been noticing that Rhee seems to have a “top down” management style that leaves out critical voices. 
Gee, really?
Birnbaum quotes the advocates as [...]

Do Children Become Adults?

Apparently, we haven’t decided if this is a fact yet.
NYC Educator points out that DC Public Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, is helping to eradicate adults’ rights and establish future patterns which will ensure that the average working person faces even dimmer prospects.  This is all done, of course, under the guise of helping children.
NYC Educator asks [...]

Questionable Associations

“Racism developed in Europe as part of a rational and scientific project to understand the world.”
Guiding Question:
What reason would “educational reformers” possibly have to be frequent guest speakers at an organization who publishes this?
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.18082,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
Is Racism a Western Idea?
By Dinesh D’Souza
The contemporary mood of frustration and pessimism about racism springs from the conviction that American society may [...]

Michelle Rhee and Friends Are Above the Law

Kevin Johnson, Mayoral candidate, friend and confidante to Michelle Rhee.  Johnson has been twice accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.
I first saw a reference to this story in D2Route.
DC Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee has been gaining a reputation as someone who doesn’t like to follow rules. Now, anyone who works in the education field [...]

The Legend of the CTB/McGraw Hill

There is a legend that says that in the early part of the 21st Century, New York City Public Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein was riding high on the educational reform wave. He decided to gather all of the most well known ed reformers in the country together for a week of conferences, speeches, think [...]

Educational Reform, the New Hollywood

“You Can Sell Anything If You Package it Right” - Associated Content

As much as we may discredit tabloid magazines, they’ve actually done some positive things. In particular, they’ve shattered the carefully constructed, picture perfect images of celebrities that the film industry used to portray. We know know that celebrities have problems just like [...]

Those Who Can’t Do Make Educational Policies

Michelle Rhee, the DC Public School’s Chancellor with the brief and questionable teaching record, has proposed a new plan to eliminate teacher seniority. According to the Washington Post, under Rhee’s new plan, teachers will be classified into two “tiers” - red and green. Teachers who choose to stay in the red tier will [...]

A Bad Script

I think I might be psychic.
When I first read that DC Public School’s Chancellor, Michelle Rhee had fired the respected principal of the school that her children attend, I said to myself, “She’s going to put in a TFA crony.”
Actually, I’m not really psychic. I just put at a few factors together.
Firstly, Rhee has [...]

The Status Quo Fights the Status Quo

Human behavior tends to be pretty predictable. When confronted with a problem or a situation, we usually search through existing information or experience in order to find solutions. We try to see how something fits into our world view. This becomes a problem in that we are constantly trying to solve new problems [...]