Michelle Rhee does the once unthinkable in Washington. Donald Trump is not the only one who knows how to get attention with the words, “You’re fired.” Michelle Rhee, chancellor for the District of Columbia schools, has just done a pretty nifty job of it herself. On Friday, Ms. Rhee fired 241 teachers—roughly 6% of the [...]
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced Friday that she has fired 241 teachers, including 165 who received poor appraisals under a new evaluation system that for the first time holds some educators accountable for students’ standardized test scores.
For Immediate Release, December 17, 2009 Holiday Hope: Bipartisan Group of U.S. Senators Demand Up-or-Down Vote on D.C. Vouchers Senators Call Elimination of Program the “End of Hope.” WASHINGTON, D.C (December 17, 2009)—A bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators have demanded that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allow a bill to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship [...]
December 4th, 2009 By Anthony A. Williams and Kevin P. Chavous, The Washington Post Despite the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program’s five-year record of success in helping children from low-income D.C. families attend the best schools they have ever known, President Obama, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) are threatening to [...]
NOVEMBER 19, 2009 By NEIL KING JR. and JOHN HECHINGER The Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says it wants to remake public education around the principle that the best teachers should be promoted and rewarded, regardless of seniority. And a brawl over just that idea is now playing out in the shadow [...]
October 26, 2009 by Mark Hemingway National Review Online D.C.’s school choice movement isn’t going down without a fight. Kevin Chavous is an African American and former Democratic city council member from Washington, D.C. He says he’s an Obama supporter, but he is distinctly unhappy with the president. Elections may have consequences, but no one [...]
By Marc Fisher The Washington Post Robyn Twomey-Corbis Outline Arrogant or dynamic? Harsh or honest? Inside the mind of D.C.’s controversial schools chief When Michelle Rhee was a teenager — long before anyone imagined she would ever spend her career trying to turn America’s inner-city public schools into something more like the elite private school [...]