Michelle Rhee

I have been meaning to write about my love for Michelle Rhee for a while now, and after coming across this video interview with Charlie Rose, I couldn't help but take this opportunity to gush. (Dan Meyer recently refered to his own warm fuzzy feelings for Chancellor Rhee as an Educrush, which I think is adorable.) I have lots of "Educrushes" these days, the more education books and blogs I read, the more I find myself falling in love with other people's ideas and philosophies on teaching. It has definitely been inspiring me to think about the kind of educator I want to be.

Here's the video: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/07/14/2/a-conversation-with-michelle-rhee-chancellor-of-the-district-of-columbia-public-schools

I love her passion for accountablity, I love her no-nonsense, no-excuses approach to education. She seems to truly believe that every teacher should be a great teacher, and she is committed to making it lucrative and possible for extraordinary people to become teachers and succeed as teachers. The woman is not willing to settle for mediocrity, and she's shaking things up in DC education. And I love it. The city needs it.

There are so many factors that affect children's ability to learn, particularly in under-served, inner-city neighborhoods, but blaming all of those factors for a child's inability to read and write is unacceptable. They may not come to school as well prepared as children in other parts of the city, but if we use that as an excuse for why so few are testing at proficiency, then it lets us, as educators, off the hook. We may not be able to fix all of the social and economic problems in the city's worst neighborhoods -- but those problems are not an insurmountable obstacle in the education of the children who live there. Michelle Rhee, in her interview, notes that "education is supposed to be the great equalizer" and at this point it obviously isn't, but it SHOULD be.

Rhee's "red track" and "green track" concept for the teachers union contract is, in my opinion, brilliant. I would without a doubt choose, and be excited by, the opportunity to be evaluated each year (through standardized test scores, interviews, or whatever means necessary) and paid based on my performance as a teacher. I can understand the senority and tenure concerns of older, more experienced teachers, and I am glad that Rhee is giving them the option of staying on that path through the "red track." However, if my students did not learn in my class, then I know I did not do a good job as their teacher, and I take responsibility for their failures. I'm not afraid of being accountable for my work.