Michelle Rhee

Mini Me, Version DCPS

Eduflack AYP, Bloomberg, Chancellor Klein, DCPS, Fenty, Michelle Rhee

Educators are very big on the concept of modeling.  We find what is effective in a similar situation (with a school, a class, or a student just like mine) and put it into practice in our own situation.  Makes sense — if it is works for someone else, it just may work for me.

But sometimes we can take modeling a little too far, giving the impression we are just mimicking or copying those that others like.  Case in point, DC Public Schools.  For a school district that is supposedly all about innovation and improvement, they seem to be an awful lot like the new student trying to dress, talk, and act like the “cool kid” on the playground.
We saw it last year when DC Mayor Fenty decided he would channel NYC Mayor Bloomberg, appointing a schools chancellor (instead of a superintendent) and choosing a non-traditional choice (former Justice Department official Joel Klein in NYC and New Teacher Project founder Michelle Rhee in DC).  Since, we’ve seen it in Rhee’s dealings issues such as school closings and dealings with the unions and even parental engagement.
Yesterday, though, Rhee officially became Klein’s mini-me.  She announced a new pilot project to “pay” middle school students for showing up for school and doing their work.  If successful, Rhee intends to take the pilot project across all middle schools in DC, offering up crisp Benjamins for students who do their jobs as students.
Let’s forget that there are still unanswered questions about the effectiveness of NYC’s own pilot effort.  What message does it send when we offer middle school students pay for play?
Supporters of such efforts would argue it is simply an equity issue.  Upper-class families have been paying their kids for good grades for years, the line goes, why can’t we give at-risk students the financial incentive to come to class, pay attention, and do their homework.  After all, fair is fair.
Unfortunately, such thinking completely misses the larger picture.  Pay for play is necessary when there is no larger reason for the action.  In recent years, though, we’ve been telling students and their families that a good education is necessary for a good job.  We need more rigorous classes.  We need kids with high school diplomas and postsecondary educations.  We need students with the academic and social skills to succeed.
Step one to getting there is actually showing up for school.  Step two is paying attention.  Step three is doing the work.  Step four is measuring proficiency.  Repeat.  
The reward should be the proficiency and the skill acquisition.  A crisp $100 bill shouldn’t be the incentive for student performance.  If it is, getting middle school students to show up is the least of our problems.
If DCPS wants to borrow from the NYC DOE playbook, it should be focusing on increasing student achievement and closing the achievement gap.  Gimmicks such as pay to play may look good in the local papers, but they simply aren’t going to solve the larger issues facing DCPS and other urban districts.

CBS on DCPS

Eduflack AFT, DCPS, Fenty, Michelle Rhee

The future of urban education?  On this evening’s CBS News, Katie Couric and company threw the spotlight on Washington, DC Public Schools and DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee.  The relative puff piece credited Rhee with shaking things up, getting rid of the dead wood, and taking the steps necessary to change the culture and performance of an urban school system that has been in perpetual decline.

Yes, many would — and have — questioned some of Rhee’s actions.  The local AFT affiliate has had their issues, particularly with the notion of “firing” teachers.  Parents have been frustrated by being cut out of the loop, particularly when it comes to school closings and the elimination of principals they love.  But meaningful reform does not come without criticism.  If everyone agreed with Rhee, then she was likely avoiding hard decisions and just rearranging the educational furniture.

But there was one thing about the CBS segment that bothers Eduflack.  Rhee is shown teaching in an elementary school classroom.  For those of us in the greater DC area, we read about Rhee and DCPS almost daily.  (I personally think the Washington Post goes out of its way to find bad photos of the Chancellor.)  But I have never read or heard anything about her teaching in the classroom.  If she’s doing it, she needs a PR team to better promote it.  If not, the footage just contributes to the larger criticism that many actions are just for “show.”

The larger issue was the classroom Rhee was teaching.  Maybe it was the camera angle, but it appeared she was teaching to an virtually all white elementary class.  Nothing wrong with that, no, but if Rhee is taking a serious stand talking about the change needed to improve DCPS’ performance, she should be showing it in the classrooms that are most affected.  She should be in SE DC, and not Upper NW.

At the end of the day, though, we know this is all just the dress rehearsal.  How much longer will friends and foes alike give Rhee (and Mayor Fenty) until they ask to see the test scores and demand to see improvements in achievement?  Ultimately, it is all about the numbers.

Blame the Parents?

Eduflack AYP, DCPS, Michelle Rhee, Students

Who, exactly, is at fault for poorly performing schools?  Based on what we read and hear and see in the media, there seems to be more than enough blame to go around.  The feds are at fault for high-stakes testing.  The state is at fault for inadequate funding.  School districts are at fault for a host of reasons.  And teachers are to blame for not teaching the right things or understanding the kids or lacking the qualification to lead the classroom.

It isn’t every day that we put the blame on another primary stakeholder in the learning process — the parents.  For decades, we have seen moms and dads wash their hands of what happens behind the schoolhouse doors.  They get their kids to school.  It is up to everyone else to do the teaching and ensure the kids are learning, retaining, and applying.

That’s what makes today’s Washington Post poll so interesting.  There are few that will come to the defense of DC Public Schools in general.  Seven in 10 surveyed believe DC public schools are inadequate.  Surprisingly, 76 percent say that parents are to blame.  See the full story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002386.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008012100219

Eduflack isn’t one who celebrates the blame game.  But DC residents must be applauded for speaking truth.  DCPS spends more dollars per student than most school districts in this country.  They’ve implemented reform after reform, with few making a lasting impact.  Teachers are run through a grinder, not knowing if they will even be paid month to month. 

Over the weekend, DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced a new Saturday tutoring program to help struggling students catch up and succeed in the classroom.  Of course, such programs are not mandatory.  Saturday programs are optional, offering the potential for another great idea to be lost in the execution.

If we are truly going to improve schools like those in DCPS, we need and require increased parental participation.  This means more than getting parents into the schools to complain to teachers and administrators about why their kids can’t do their homework or pass the test.  True parental involvement has mothers, fathers, grandparents, and such involved in the learning process.  They know what’s happening in the classroom.  They ensure their kids are doing their homework.  They identify learning experiences in the home or in the community.  They take responsibility for their kids, and hold them accountable For maximizing their school hours.

Parents are our first teachers and our most consistent ones.  Small kids will pattern their words and actions after what their parents do.  We read because our parents do.  We do our homework because our parents prioritize it.  We bring home good grades because our parents encourage it.  And if they don’t, we don’t care.  

Many of the problems our schools face — rising drop-out rates, limited reading and math skills, truancy, etc. — can all be attributed, in part, to parent apathy.  Eduflack has done a number of focus groups with eighth and ninth graders recently on dropping out.  Student after student said they wouldn’t drop out because their parents won’t let them.  THat’s parental involvement.  It may come in the form of carrot or stick, but it makes a difference.

Parents are key to improving our schools, improving our community, and boosting student achievement.  Thankfully, citizens in our nation’s capital now recognize that.  Identification is the first step.  The challenge now, is for DCPS to take this data and put it into action.  If we ID parent apathy as a root of DCPS problems, what do we do to boost parental involvement?  Once Chancellor Rhee answers that question, she may have a winning strategy for improving the schools, engaging the public and building support and interest for what is happening in each and every schoolhouse in the District. 

Closing the Doors?

Eduflack DCPS, Fenty, Michelle Rhee

The latest educational brouhaha in our nation’s capitol is all about the schoolhouse doors.  Or in this case, about closing some of them.  As part of her effort to overall DCPS, Chancellor Michelle Rhee is advocating the closure of 23 schools in Washington, DC.  The reason — underutilization and enrollment decline.  The full story can be found at the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011401232.html

As to be expected, more than 60 people spoke at a marathon public hearing on the subject.  Community leaders protested outside.  Young students urged the city not to close their school.  Strong rhetoric on both sides.  It was an advocacy communications dream scenario, regardless of which side you are rooting for.

So who won in the first of what will be several educational cage matches?  Those individuals fighting under the Save Our Schools banner deserve some plaudits.  They managed to take an issue like budgetary savings and make it personal.  This was not about the $23 million savings that come from closing the schools (although some dispute that number).  This was about the kids who are to be affected.  The crayon-drawn signs.  The young students making very personal pleas (in English and Spanish, no less).  This isn’t about Excel spreadsheets, this is about the average fourth-grader in the district. 

Eduflack will overlook the issue of these young kids being taken out of school to be used as a rhetorical device.  And we overlook it because it was effective.  We are used to seeing Willy Wilson and Marion Barry fight the fight.  This is about the new generation.  Save Our Schools gave voice to the students by letting the students be the voice.  It was effective yesterday, and it can remain effective if they focus on such outcomes, and not on the process.

Which takes us to Chancellor Rhee.  She rode tall in the saddle, listening to 59 other people before she finally got her say.  Much of what she said focused on the process — utilization measures, dollar savings, and budgets.  All of that is important to holding the support of the Mayor and the City Council, absolutely.  But it is a non-starter with those audiences that will be affected.  Parents and community leaders don’t care about enrollment declines.  They want to protect their school.  As we’ve said before, no matter how poorly DCPS may be doing, most will believe that their neighborhood school is still doing an effective job?

If not the process, what should Rhee be focusing on?  That’s simple.  Let’s talk about the future.  She did some of that, giving voice to a student whose “wish list” include Spanish teachers, music teachers, and a librarian.  That’s her ace card.  She needs to speak for all her students.  This isn’t about closing a school, this is about ensuring DCPS’ other schools have the resources to provide the curriculum, the technology, and the “coolness” that we need to keep kids in school, engaged, and on the right track.  This is about what we get, not what we are giving up.  This is about outcomes, not inputs.

No, it’s not an easy sell.  The opposition is always poised to defend and protect their schools and their teachers.  Rhee’s job is to build a strong school district with good teachers and achieving students.  At some point, what your teaching and who is doing the teaching should rise above where you are teaching.

The chancellor and the mayor have a lot invested in these reforms.  Once they get through this, they’ll have to battle the union over firing rights, and that may well be an even tougher battle.  Now is the time for Rhee to demonstrate she has heard everything spoken to her during her honeymoon period, and that she understands the needs, desires, hopes, and dreams of DC parents and neighborhoods.