RHEE-SULTS: A LITTLE RED MEAT FOR THOSE senti-MENTAL Rhee/Kaya supporters... ENJOY!! Fight Back!

[Anonymous]

Rhee succeeded in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS in many neighborhood schools. As DC's demographics continue to change, individual local schools will continue to come around. Rhee didn't effect a district-wide improvement in all metrics because DCPS is a majority-poor school district. And majority poor school districts are failing school districts. When DCPS is no longer majority poor, it will then begin to improve across the entire district. Until then, it will improve at the local school level.

That means that instead of 4 elementary schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their child to school, there may be 8. Or 10. Or 12. Instead of two middle schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their kids to school, there may be 4.

That's what DCPS improvement is going to look like.

That and actually getting textbooks to students on time.

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting series of comments. So, for those feeling that Rhee set things back, a real question is: what must be done? The answer is not about more money or more union jobs, but what? Some real answers folks....

[Anonymous]

Rhee succeed in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS for PS3 and PK4.

Ludlow-Taylor on Capitol Hill is a prime example of how the school is still segregated beyond Kindergarten.

Those of us whose tenure as DCPS parents know that the turnarounds at Brent and Maury predated Rhee.

The Brent gentrification miracle just isn't happening at Payner, Tyler, Miner and LT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry - did anyone read the Examiner article about Rhee being NOT good for DCPS?

Yes. And while I agree with the general tenor of the article (Rhee did not produce results) I do think she deserves some credit for shaking things up and putting tenured teachers on their toes.

+1. The system needed a shaking up. Whoever did the shaking was going to be nailed to the cross and their tenure short lived. That's the reality. BTW, I was out of the area during all but the last few months of Rhee's post so I really don't have an opinion about her. I've just lived in DC long enough to know that a change was absolutely necessary.

Yes, but the point of the article was that the change was for the worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will certainly read the report but I have lived in DC for the better part of the last 20 years and, while I'm sure she got a lot of stuff wrong, the getting rid of dead weight and putting a fire under some folks was absolutely necessary. My kids are currently in DCPS and there is no way in hell I would have been open to that 10 years ago. Again, I was not in the area when she headed the system. I'm simply looking at DCPS from the perspective of where it was when I left and how I found it when I returned.

Were you here when Janey was here? Because some improvements started under him before Fenty replaced him with Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting series of comments. So, for those feeling that Rhee set things back, a real question is: what must be done? The answer is not about more money or more union jobs, but what? Some real answers folks....

I think it was Orwell who taught us that when you have no answers or plan, it's always best to SHAKE YOUR FIST AT EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhee succeeded in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS in many neighborhood schools. As DC's demographics continue to change, individual local schools will continue to come around. Rhee didn't effect a district-wide improvement in all metrics because DCPS is a majority-poor school district. And majority poor school districts are failing school districts. When DCPS is no longer majority poor, it will then begin to improve across the entire district. Until then, it will improve at the local school level.

That means that instead of 4 elementary schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their child to school, there may be 8. Or 10. Or 12. Instead of two middle schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their kids to school, there may be 4.

That's what DCPS improvement is going to look like.

That and actually getting textbooks to students on time.

not buying. the demographics were moving in this direction well ahead of Rhee and will continue to do so. Schools with improvement have done it ground up with parent engagement more than DCPS management. Not sure about 4 MS schools btw. Still looks more like 2. Lots of charters picking up the slack, so I guess Rhee gets credit for propping up the competition, and charters have hired some good teachers churned out by DCPS.

signed middle-class white parent with kid in DCPS in neighborhood school despite Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:18, Rhee shook things up. And she made things worse.

That's the issue. Despite virtually unlimited money, unchecked power and rampant cheating, NOTHING has changed in DCPS.

Read the report. It's sobering.

I'm no Rhee apologist, but that is not strictly true. There are procedural administrative changes that have definitely improved. Students do get their books on time, facilities are better maintained, there is PS/PK availability (which is not solely the result of the Mayor). When you say nothing has changed, completely ignoring some objectively positive changes, it damages your credibility.

Yes and Allen Lew deserves credit for the facilities, not Rhee. http://oca.dc.gov/biography/allen-y-lew I don't know why people keep saying she improved the facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhee succeed in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS for PS3 and PK4.

Ludlow-Taylor on Capitol Hill is a prime example of how the school is still segregated beyond Kindergarten.

Those of us whose tenure as DCPS parents know that the turnarounds at Brent and Maury predated Rhee.

The Brent gentrification miracle just isn't happening at Payner, Tyler, Miner and LT.

Unnecessarily pessimistic. Many would have argued that the Brent gentrification miracle wasn't happening at Maury as of 2-3 years ago. Kudos on your intimate knowledge of the demo patterns of Payne, Tyler, Miner, LT (and JO Wilson, etc, etc...). My sense is that this is more an article of faith to you than a cold-eyed rational evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is that Rhee did more harm than good.

And the good she did wasn't worth the harm. Worse, the good could've been achieved without the turmoil.

Rhee had unprecedented freedom to do what she wanted with DCPS. I agree with the poster who said it was an opportunity missed. Only, if only, the person Mayor Fenty appointed had experience, wisdom, and character. Much, much more could've been accomplished in DC because you really do get more bees with honey. The students would be much better off today if only a better, wiser person had been given the job.

Let's not overlook that fact that students were actually progressing four years before Rhee arrived and immediately regressed afterwards. That says A LOT. In fact, it says EVERYTHING. Because student achievement--not a smaller central office or timely book deliveries--is the ultimate goal of school reform. If you don't accomplish that one thing, you've FAILED.

Nailed it, pp. It wasn't that her motivation to reform was wrong, it's that she didn't have the experience and skills to pull it off successfully.

[Anonymous]

I am not understanding a big part of this: for all you frustrated parents, railing at the system, hating Fenty, hating Rhee and hating the schools...why are you sending your kids to those schools? What exactly are you setting out to change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not understanding a big part of this: for all you frustrated parents, railing at the system, hating Fenty, hating Rhee and hating the schools...why are you sending your kids to those schools? What exactly are you setting out to change?

They're just clinging to the desparate hope that someday, God willing, Allen Lew will return and complete his transformation of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhee succeeded in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS in many neighborhood schools. As DC's demographics continue to change, individual local schools will continue to come around. Rhee didn't effect a district-wide improvement in all metrics because DCPS is a majority-poor school district. And majority poor school districts are failing school districts. When DCPS is no longer majority poor, it will then begin to improve across the entire district. Until then, it will improve at the local school level.

That means that instead of 4 elementary schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their child to school, there may be 8. Or 10. Or 12. Instead of two middle schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their kids to school, there may be 4.

That's what DCPS improvement is going to look like.

That and actually getting textbooks to students on time.

Michelle Rhee would say that blaming poverty for a failing school is simply an excuse for bad teaching. But now it's not her fault that DCPS is failing, because of poverty?

[Anonymous]

Agree with 12:42. Now what? What is the brilliant plan to turn it around, and reverse the trends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rhee succeeded in getting middle-class white parents to buy into DCPS in many neighborhood schools. As DC's demographics continue to change, individual local schools will continue to come around. Rhee didn't effect a district-wide improvement in all metrics because DCPS is a majority-poor school district. And majority poor school districts are failing school districts. When DCPS is no longer majority poor, it will then begin to improve across the entire district. Until then, it will improve at the local school level.

That means that instead of 4 elementary schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their child to school, there may be 8. Or 10. Or 12. Instead of two middle schools where a middle-class parent would consider sending their kids to school, there may be 4.

That's what DCPS improvement is going to look like.

That and actually getting textbooks to students on time.

Michelle Rhee would say that blaming poverty for a failing school is simply an excuse for bad teaching. But now it's not her fault that DCPS is failing, because of poverty?

Michelle Rhee would be wrong.

She did about a good a job as could be expected with a high-poverty urban school district in which the interests of that system's parents, much less other stakeholders, are in no way aligned.