By Often times we think of public servants such as policemen, firemen, and paramedics as heroes. However, a profession of public servants that does get overlooked for the many heroes it produces is our nation’s teachers. Yes there are plenty of worthless teachers in America’s classrooms, but committed educators like the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools System, Michelle Rhee is the perfect example of a teacher I would consider to be a hero.
Washington, DC School Superintendent, Michelle Rhee
Rhee at 38 years old has turned the Washington DC education system upside down with her programs of aggressive educational reforms, particularly in poor, minority schools. These reforms have caused her to receive many detractors in the city’s entrenched educational bureaucracy that appears more concerned with their own job security then the educational well being of the city’s children.
Michelle Rhee may seem young to be a school superintendent of one of the nation’s largest school systems, but her professional career before becoming the Washington, DC school is superintendent is quite impressive. She is the daughter of Korean immigrants who moved to Toledo, Ohio where she was born. Rhee’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in government from Cornell University followed by a Master’s Degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. After finishing her education Rhee went on to join Teach for America which sends new college graduates to teach in low income communities in the United States.
Rhee was assigned to teach in a poor minority neighborhood in Baltimore for three years where she initially faced great challenges:
Rhee was placed in one of the lowest-performing schools in Baltimore as a second-grade teacher. “It was a total culture shock for me,” she recalls. While she was talking to her students as they lined up for lunch, one of the students fell down on the floor. “Each kid, as they were walking by, kicked the kid that was down,” Rhee says. “I was, like, ‘What are they doing?’ But it was like second nature to them. The kid is down. Kick him.”
Rhee was unable to stop the kids, or control them in the classroom for most of her first year. At Christmas, she went home scratching at huge welts on her arm. A doctor diagnosed stress. Her mother said, “You can apply for law school second semester.” Her father, a strong believer in the work ethic and rooting for the underdog, said, “Suck it up and get back in there.” [Newsweek]
However after the initial challenges she rededicated herself and worked hard to improve the educational scores of her students:
She says that she and a colleague worked day and night to prepare for their classes, and saw their group of kids go from the bottom of the heap to where 90% of them were scoring above the 90th percentile. “I don’t believe you can do this work, or be engaged in it at any level, unless you believe in your core that poor minority kids can achieve at the highest level despite all the obstacles.” [Wall Street Journal]
Rhee (with parental consent) made the kids go to school on Saturdays and gave them two hours of homework a night, so they would “not watch TV or sit on the stoop or play Nintendo.” She slowly won the respect of parents. “My first year of teaching, they were, like, ‘We do not want the crazy Korean lady,’ and by the time I left, they were, ‘Where are you going? You can’t leave’.” [Newsweek]
Rhee would then go on to found in 1997 the The New Teacher Project that recruited highly qualified people to become teachers in America’s public education system. Since its inception the program has recruited and certified 20,000 high quality people to become teachers.
Washington, DC Mayor, Adrian Fenty
Rhee’s aggressiveness in improving education level for minority children over the years did not go unnoticed as the newly elected mayor of Washington, DC, Adrian Fenty recruited Rhee to become his city’s superintendent. After initially refusing the offer, Rhee finally agreed and since then she has pushed her aggressive educational reforms in all the Washington, DC area schools.
She began by closing nearly two dozen under-performing schools in the city and then by firing a number of school employees. She then next took aim at under-performing teachers which meant she would have to take on the almighty teacher’s union:
That is not to say that Rhee is relaxed. She says she wakes up every morning with a “knot in my stomach,” and that she is “angry,” though “angry in a good way.” She is angry at a system of education that puts “the interests of adults” over the “interests of children,” i.e., a system that values job protection for teachers over their effectiveness in the classroom. Rhee is trying to change that system. In a way that few realistic observers thought was possible, she has a chance to succeed, not just in Washington, but also around the country. She is entering into a struggle with the local teachers union that will test whether an urban school district can weed out its weak teachers—a profound threat to politically powerful teachers unions nationwide. [Newsweek]
To give everyone an idea of how corrupt of a force the teacher’s union is that she was facing, the former head of the teacher’s union Barbara Bullock is currently serving a six and half year prison sentence for embezzling $4.6 million dollars from the union:
Former Washington Teachers’ Union president Barbara A. Bullock recounted in court yesterday how she dropped tens of thousands of union dollars a day in casual shopping and how she and her two fellow union leaders milked the union bank accounts to buy anything their hearts desired. [Washington Post]
Taking on a bureaucracy this corrupt is not going to be easy and that is the challenge that lays before Rhee. Of course Rhee is already being hit with charges with racism because she fired a Hispanic principal who just happened to be the principal of the school Rhee’s two young daughters are enrolled in.
However, Rhee has a plan to take on the union and that involves making Washington, DC area teachers the highest paid in the country if they give up their tenure:
Rhee’s toughest fight, by far, is coming up. She has proposed a new contract for the union that would undermine tenure, the teachers union holy of holies. The carrot is money. By tapping Mayor Fenty and private philanthropists, she is hoping to make D.C. teachers the best-paid in the country. Current teachers would actually have a choice. If they are willing to go on “probation” for a year—giving up their job security—and can successfully prove their talent, they can earn more than $100,000 a year and as much as $130,000, a huge salary for a teacher, after five years. If not, they still get a generous 28 percent raise over five years and keep their tenure. (All new teachers must sign up for the first option and go on probation for four years.) Rhee predicts that about half the teachers will choose to take their chances on accountability for higher pay, and that within five years the rest will follow, giving up tenure for the shot at merit pay hikes. [Newsweek]
It isn’t just teachers she is throwing money at to reform but the students as well:
One of the most controversial programs Rhee has introduced is a joint venture between D.C. schools and Harvard that pays middle school students cash — up to $100 a month — for good behavior and attendance.
Rhee says such pilot programs have worked in other cities. She says the District’s students have far too many bad incentives on the streets, from hustling to drug dealing, and need something to keep them focused.
“We’re preparing them to understand that if you do the right thing, then good things will happen to you,” Rhee said. [CNN]
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out but I at a minimum Rhee should be respected for her dedication to improving the education of the nation’s poorest children:
As she spoke, late in the day (but only in the middle of her workday), she was becoming uncharacteristically wound up. “We do not have a nation right now where every child has an equal chance in life, because poor black kids don’t have an equal shot in life, because they go to crappy schools, and the Democratic Party is not tackling this issue, which I think is one of the biggest problems that exist.” [Newsweek]
However, I think her point could be expanded to low-income kids do not have an equal shot at an education as kids who go to school in more affluent neighborhoods or private schools. I hope her education reforms are successful and hopefully motivates whoever is in the White House next year to begin similar education reforms across America.
Note: I know I have a few teachers who read this blog and I would love to hear what you think about these education reforms being spearheaded by Michelle Rhee.
8:53 am on September 30th, 2008 1
I have read stories in the WaPo about Rhee but don't consider myself highly informed about her leadership. I respect her success as a teacher, her belief that every child can learn, and her strong commitment to learning for all. She has taken heat not only from the teachers' union but also from some neighborhood groups for attempting to close schools with low enrollment. Kudos to Fenty for hiring her and standing by her so far. If the Washington DC community rallies behind them, they can succeed.
10:22 am on September 30th, 2008 2
There are really no other words for it "God bless her" but he might need a hand or two. A few good people can make a difference.
11:10 am on September 30th, 2008 3
Unfortunately I have lost the link to it, but one of the major Korean newspapers published a long interview with her last year. It might be worth digging up for those who can read Korean.
As a former teacher I don't think paying kids to do well is a hot idea, but then again I never worked in such a difficult environment either. And I think tenure is good but there should be a procedure in place to revoke it when justified.
11:49 am on September 30th, 2008 4
Thanks for posting this. It's surely pretty interesting.
The teacher's union in Aotearoa – New Zealand is also one of the strongest in that country, but is not known for being corrupt to any extent. There's a strong culture of close quality assurance and of checking out every teacher and every school every three years by the governmental body known as the Education Review Office (the dreaded ERO). There is also a strongly nurtured ethos of support for teachers within the system.
Now I agree, this is not enough to insure that all new teachers are supported in their hardest first couple of years, nor that that they are then and thereafter achieving the best for students, however, generally if they are, they are thereafter capable of continuing doing great work and subsequently enducing great results from students.
Keeping teachers perpetually motivated, however, is another question, and one where the alternative carrot of 'genuine' 'professional'-scale pay rates versus tenure positions is an intriguing option.
Lord knows teaching is not just another profession; it's not just a job, it's a full-time life-style. Yeah yeah great holidays sure – the first half of which are spent recovering (witness Rhee and the stress welts on her arms) and the second half spent planning for the next semester – and that's not counting take-home work throughout evenings and weekends and the fact that one is both recognised and under scrutiny inside and outside school.
Equivalent stress and workload to any other professional job?
Absolutely.
Is financial recognition of high achievers likely to provoke greater interest and enduce continued motivation? Highly probable.
12:02 pm on September 30th, 2008 5
If I recall correctly, at the time she was appointed no one knew who the heck she was, and a lot of the early resistance to her was just political reaction against a seemingly arbitrary appointment.
If she gets results, more power to her. But radical reforms of education policy rarely turn out very well. We give teacher's unions a strong voice as an attempt to resist that. Even if they are 'good' ideas, if they are implemented recklessly they yield poor results.
Look at independent surveys of NCLB, or the British educational reforms some years before that.
12:15 pm on September 30th, 2008 6
I don't know much about Michelle Rhee but I heard sooo much about her accomplishments. Its about time that DC has young motivated mayor who wants to change DC school system for better future of his children. He also got lots of flaks from the other politicians that he hired a Non-Black outsider to head the DC school system.
As for Mayor Fenty, he is not only a great mayor but also great athelete. I saw him running in the Army Ten Miler and Marine Corp Marathon. Lot better than former drug user mayor that DC used to have.
12:30 pm on September 30th, 2008 7
FYI, Michelle Rhee's father is physician in Sylvania, Ohio who specialized in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. One of my uncle (Radiologist) also came to Toledo, OH at the same time as Dr Rhee. There was lots of Korean physicians who came to Toledo, OH to their residencies and fellowships. I think they were all Yonsei's Severance Medical School Graduates. It was huge Korean Physician community in Toledo back in early 70's. Whenever I met a 2nd Gen Korean-Americans from Toledo, OH, they were children of these phyisicians.
12:31 pm on September 30th, 2008 8
"And I think tenure is good but there should be a procedure in place to revoke it when justified."
It is a myth that tenured teachers can't be fired. They can. The principal and the district must document the reasons, and if the main reason is incompetence, supporting evidence would include both observations and detailed, specific improvement plans which were not met. Teachers can and do challenge firings with the backing of their unions.
3:53 pm on September 30th, 2008 9
I can't speak for kids that young, and in Georgia, unions have not historically gained the kind of worker and community support like up north like the Ford plant where my grandfather worked.
In my time teaching in secondary schools in the US, one of the biggest influence in low quality eduction has been — expectations. I've always gotten the feeling a high percentage of teachers — don't believe their average student can achieve much. Or, to put it more like you hear, they believe their average students can't — can't — can't…
The bars are set really low.
And this lends itself to letting students get away with little – and low and behold – students get away with as little as you'll let them.
And this is this set system now. When you try to buck it, like when only 20% of your students hand in their research paper on time and you lower their grade, you'll get pressure from administration and other teachers to cut the kids some slack – "it is 80% who aren't handing it in – are you going to fail all of them?"
I was very surprised the first time I saw the standardized tests they use to judge on the no child left behind mandate and such.
After having heard so much about it in teacher education and from teachers and watched how the schools put so much emphasis on it and fretting about it so much — when I saw the test, I thought, "Good grief!! This is what all the fuss is about???"
The English section was basic reading comprehension.
And if students are failing that – you see the results of setting the bars low year after year on so much.
The 2nd factor that is key to me is —- the parents….which extends to mean the community.
And it isn't just an inner city thing.
I live in an area where factory jobs are not hard to get usually – and families have been in them for generations often enough.
And kids get around 14 or 15 and start thinking about dropping out and getting a job making not much less than their mom or dad.
So in the community, you have a lot of parents without high school educations, even fewer with college ones, and kids who aren't motivated because education isn't really thought of much.
4:56 am on October 1st, 2008 10
PBS has profiled her a few times and I am impressed.
3:50 pm on October 1st, 2008 11
I do not agree with her on paying kids…saw this on tv. She is applying Pavlovs Dog theory w/o the common sense.
Overall though…she is in there fighting for something & that is what counts…ESL teachers hiding out in Korea, et al should take note.
The Teachers Union…what a bunch of self-serving corrupt A-holes…this is the primary reason I Home School my kids.
3:17 am on October 2nd, 2008 12
Sonagi, I can only speak from experience, but my hometown school has seen the process fail hard.
8:07 am on October 18th, 2008 13
[...] Wangkon936 jogged my memory that Washington, DC school superintendent Michelle Rhee that was featured here before on the ROK Drop was mentioned during the presidential [...]
7:02 am on November 15th, 2008 14
[...] DC School Superintendent Michelle Rhee’s name continues to come up even after the election of Barack [...]
3:29 pm on December 1st, 2008 15
[...] did a profile of Michelle Rhee myself a few months back and her name also came up during a US Presidential debate. I don’t [...]
7:21 pm on December 6th, 2008 16
[...] Hat tips to- Andy Jackson at Marmot’s Hole and GI at ROK Drop [...]
11:02 pm on July 24th, 2010 17
GI Korea writes: "Often times we think of public servants such as policemen, firemen, and paramedics as heroes."
You know I think many Korean parents think that heroes are lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, dentists, or basically those of any profession where there's a lot of money to be made — or one of those "사" professions excluding scholars("박사"). I think there is a real problem here and it leads to resentment from non-Koreans who think that Koreans just want to put themselves ahead and really not care that much about those in the larger community.
And, definitely, I'm strongly for accountability among teachers in our country's public schools, particularly high schools. I'm not sure by what measure, but I definitely think extremely strong teachers unions, such as in California are a deteriment to her students.
2:00 am on September 21st, 2010 18
Unfortunately many minority group people don't realize that liberals don't really want to help minorities. The poverty pimps want the minorities to be poor & undereducated so that they will have to rely on government. The liberals then have almost a guaranteed pool of voters. The same dynamic is happening with the proposals for 'a pathway to citizenship' for illegal aliens ('a pathway to citizenship' is a code word for amnesty). The corporations will get plenty of cheap labor & liberals will get millions of votes. The anchor babies will ensure that the liberals will get millions of votes in the future, not only from when the anchor babies reach voting age but also when the anchor babies can sponsor their uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. The teachers unions are a big part of this picture because they work to keep substandard teachers employed which keeps the kids dumb. If you add on ACORN & the SEIU you register more drones to vote. Michelle Rhee, you are a hero, thank you.