Michelle Rhee

Michelle A. Rhee
Rhee in February 2008
Born	December 25, 1969 (1969-12-25) (age 41) Ann Arbor, Michigan[1]
Residence	Sacramento, CA
Ethnicity	Korean
Citizenship	United States
Education	Public policy[2]
Alma mater	Cornell University (B.A.) Harvard University (M.P.P.)
Home town	Toledo, Ohio
Title	Former Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools
Term	June 2007 - October 2010
Predecessor	Superintendent Clifford Janey
Successor	Kaya Henderson (acting)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Kevin Johnson (2011)[3] Kevin Huffman (div. 2007)
Children	Two daughters

Michelle A. Rhee (Korean: 이양희;^[2] I Yang-hui; born December 25, 1969) is a public figure involved in the American education system. She was chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools from 2007 to 2010. In late 2010, she founded StudentsFirst, a non-profit, tax-exempt political advocacy organization which works on education reform issues such as ending teacher tenure.

She began her career by teaching for three years in an inner city school, then founded and ran The New Teacher Project, which in ten years recruited and trained more than 23,000 new teachers to work in urban schools.^[1]

Early life and education

Rhee was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the second of three children of South Korean immigrants Shang Rhee, a physician, and Inza Rhee, a clothing store owner.^[4][5] She was raised in the Toledo, Ohio area and educated in the public schools, through the sixth grade.^[5] Her parents then sent her to South Korea to attend school for one year.^[5] Upon her return, they enrolled her in a private school because they felt the public school was lacking.^[5]

Growing up, Rhee's father encouraged her to do community service.^[4] During her teenage years, she worked with children and spent a summer working on a Native American reservation.^[4]

She graduated from the private Maumee Valley Country Day School in 1988, and went on to Cornell University where she received a B.A. in government in 1992. She later earned a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Teaching

Inspired by a PBS special that she saw when she was a senior in college, Rhee signed up with Teach For America, went through their brief training period in how to teach, then worked for three years as a teacher in Baltimore, Maryland.^[4][6] She was assigned to one of the lowest-performing schools, in a neighborhood that reminded her parents of a war zone.^[5] She had difficulty controlling her classroom the first year.^[5] She has said the stress gave her hives,^[5] and that she once put small pieces of masking tape on the children's mouths so they would be quiet on the way to the lunchroom.^[7][8] Rhee told Washingtonian magazine that she was demoralized by her first year of teaching, but said to herself, "I’m not going to let eight-year-old kids run me out of town", and took more courses in education and received her teachers' certification.^[4] Rhee first year test scores showed a precipitous drop in her class: Average math percentile dropped from 64% to 17%. Average reading percentile dropped from 37% to 21%.^[9]

She told The New York Times that the students she taught her second and third years had national standardized test scores that were initially at the 13th percentile—but at the end of two years, the class was at grade level, with some students performing at the 90th percentile.^[6] Earlier she had said on her resume that 90 percent of her students had attained scores at the 90th percentile.^[10] In 2010, a retired math teacher unearthed test score data on Rhee's Baltimore school which indicated that her students' scores went up during the 2nd and 3rd years, but that the percentile gains were less than half what Rhee claimed:^[10] In Math her scores went from 22 percentile to 52 percentile, an average increase of 15 percentile annually.^[9] In reading, her scores went from 14 percentile to 48 percentile, an average increase of 17 percentile annually.^[9] Rhee claimed that the discrepancies between the official test scores and the ones she claimed on her resume were because her principal at the time had informed her of the gains but those results may not have been the official state tests that were preserved.^[10]

New Teacher Project

In 1997, Rhee founded and began serving as the CEO of The New Teacher Project, a non-profit which within ten years of its founding, had trained and supplied urban school districts with 23,000 mid-career professionals wanting to become classroom teachers.^[6] The Project has mainly served New York, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia,^[6] Beginning in 2000, the Project began redesigning the D.C. school's recruitment and hiring processes.^[1]

Chancellor of D.C. public schools

In 2007 the D.C. board of education was stripped of its decision-making powers and turned into an advisory body, and the new office of chancellor was created—so that changes in the public school system could be made without waiting for the approval of an often argumentative board.^[4][5] Newly-elected D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty quickly offered Rhee the job of chancellor;^[4] she accepted after being promised mayoral backing for whatever changes she wanted to make.^[11] Critics noted that Rhee had no experience running a school system,^[4] and had not even been a principal. She had been highly recommended to Fenty, however, by the chancellor of the New York public schools.^[12]

Rhee inherited a troubled system; there had been six school chiefs in the previous 10 years,^[4] students historically had below-average scores on standardized tests,^{[citation needed]} and according to Rhee, only 8% of eighth graders were at grade level in mathematics.^[13] The D.C. schools were performing poorly despite having the advantage of the third highest spending per student in the US.^[14]

Upon taking office, Rhee immediately began to make a series of radical changes that relied on top-down accountability and results from standardized tests.^[15] She said there was no time to waste because children were being robbed of their futures.^[15] In her first year on the job, Rhee unapologetically closed 23 schools, fired 36 principals and cut approximately 121 office jobs.^[15] Stated reasons for the closings were under-enrollment and excess square footage.^[16][17] Following Rhee's announcement of some of the changes, D.C. Council members asked for more information about how the decisions had been made.^[16]

In February 2008, Rhee also announced a plan to add early-childhood programs, gifted and talented programs, art and music classes, and special education services to District schools.^[16]

In 2008, she also tried to renegotiate teacher compensation, offering teachers the choice of salaries of up to $140,000 based on what she termed "student achievement" with no tenure rights or earning much smaller pay raises with tenure rights retained. Teachers and the teachers union rejected the proposal, contesting that some form of tenure was necessary to protect against arbitrary, political, or wrongful termination of employment.^[18]

In 2010, Rhee and the unions agreed on a new contract that offered 20% pay raises and bonuses of $20,000 to $30,000 for "strong student achievement," in exchange for weakened teachers' seniority protections and the end of teacher tenure for one year. Under this new agreement, Rhee fired 241 teachers, the vast majority of whom received poor evaluations, and put 737 additional school employees on notice.^[19] Of the dismissed teachers, 76 were dismissed in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act because they lacked proper teaching certification.^[20] 26 other teachers were dismissed because their students had continually received low scores on the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System.^[20] Teachers were observed by administrators and outside professionals for five 30-minute sessions during the year, and the teachers' performance was rated during those sessions.^[20] Teachers who received fewer than 175 out of 400 points were deemed ineffective and were dismissed.^[20] Teachers who received between 175 and 249 points were deemed minimally effective and given a one-year warning to improve their performance.^[20]

Support and criticism

Michelle Rhee remains a highly controversial figure in the field of education due to her aggressive style of reform and what some believe to be anti-union sentiments. Another common criticism disputes her claim that she dramatically increased students' average scores from the 13th percentile to the 90th, a claim that could not be verified during her confirmation process for D.C. Schools Chancellor as the relevant Baltimore records could not be located.^[21] Rhee's actions have earned her applause from school reformers, as well as the scorn of teacher unions and community activists. Her supporters claim that under Rhee's chancellorship, student achievement in the D.C. Public Schools greatly improved. Since 2007, secondary schools have improved their standardized test pass rates by 14% in reading and 17% in math, while elementary school pass rates have improved 6% in reading and 15% in math. System-wide high school graduation rates also improved by 3%, up to 72% in 2009.^[22] By 2010, D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System reading pass rates had increased by 14 percentage points, and math pass rates had increased by 17 percentage points. Enrollment decreased by one percent, a slower decline than prior years.^[22] However, significant achievement gaps remained between students in high-performing and low-performing school districts, and between white and African American students. Education expert Diane Ravitch questioned the legitimacy of Rhee's results, alleging that "cheating, teaching to bad tests, institutionalized fraud, dumbing down of tests, and a narrowed curriculum" were the true outcomes of Rhee's tenure in D.C. schools.^[23]

Some parents and community leaders said that Rhee's speed left them without input on the changes.^[24] The District Council also criticized Rhee for being unresponsive to Council members' requests for information about school operations.^[24] From 2008 to 2010, Rhee's approval ratings decreased from 59% to 43%. 28% of African Americans supported Rhee in 2010, down from 50% in 2008.^[24]

Rhee fired several administrators and school principals, including Marta Guzman, the principal of the high-performing Oyster-Adams Bilingual Elementary School, which Rhee's own children attended.^[5][25] Some parents alleged that the firing process was neither transparent nor fair. According to the Washington Post, "the departure has stunned many Oyster-Adams parents who wondered why, in a city filled with under-performing public schools, Rhee would sack a principal who has presided for the past five years over one of its few success stories. The move also heightened ethnic and class tensions within the school's diverse community. Eduardo Barada, co-chairman of the Oyster-Adams Community Council, the school's PTA, said Guzman was toppled by a cadre of dissatisfied and largely affluent Anglo parents with the ear of a woman who was both a fellow parent and the chancellor."^[25] Rhee also fired a principal she had hired seven weeks before in Shepherd Elementary—another high-performing school in the upper Northwest neighborhood.^[26]

Detractors also complained about Rhee's closing of several D.C. schools without holding public hearings,^[27] not reporting complete budget figures at recent D.C. council hearings,^[27] excluding parents from involvement (GAO report),^[28] hiring former supporters to conduct an evaluation of her performance in a show of conflict of interest,^[29] opposing student protests of her security policies,^[30] managing using authoritarian principles, and spending considerable time before the national media (Time, PBS, lecture circuit) instead of visiting schools.^[27]

Rhee at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awards ceremony, June 2008

Rhee and supporters responded that personnel decisions are based on the judgment of the chancellor and that closures and restructuring are necessary to effect reforms.^[31][32]

Referring to the 266 teachers she laid off, Rhee told a national business magazine: "I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school. Why wouldn't we take those things into consideration?" At the time, she did not provide evidence of her accusations nor comment when asked why these accused teachers were allowed to be in the district prior to the dismissals. Union leadership asked Rhee to apologize to the 266 teachers for making remarks that were without basis in facts.^[33] Rhee refused to apologize, but clarified that only one teacher was dismissed due to sexual abuse allegations.^[34]

The Washington D.C. 2010 Mayoral Election was interpreted by political experts as a referendum on Rhee's unpopular tenure as school chancellor.^[35] Following the defeat of incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty in the 2010 Democratic primary election, Rhee called the election results "devastating for the schoolchildren of Washington, D.C."^[13] Rhee encouraged education reformers to learn from the election and "be more aggressive and more adamant."^[13] Fenty announced on October 13, 2010 that Rhee had resigned, Rhee soon launched a personal website, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page.^[36]

Testing scandal

Investigations have questioned some of Rhee's accomplishments in increasing test scores in D.C. schools.^[37] In 2008 the Office of the State Superintendent of Education discovered that 103 schools in DC were flagged for suspiciously high wrong-to-right answer changes. The number of schools in DC with abnormal rates of wrong-to-right erasures is more than half of all schools and includes eight of the 10 campuses where Rhee handed out TEAM awards "to recognize, reward and retain high-performing educators and support staff." An investigation by USA Today discovered that at one school in particular, Noyes Elementary, an anomalous number of erasures on student standardized tests were detected by CTB/McGraw-Hill during Rhee's tenure and that Rhee's office was informed of this incident.^[38] Erasures consistently changed an incorrect answer to a correct answer. Statisticians contacted by USA Today claimed that "the odds are better for winning the Powerball grand prize than having that many erasures by chance." The radical testing gains made by the school as well as the anomalous erasures raised suspicions that the answer sheets were tampered with after being collected from students.

The gains in test scores made at Noyes Elementary School earned the school recognition as a Blue Ribbon School. Rhee promoted the school as a model for her education reform movement. The article noted that Noyes was only one of 96 schools in D.C. flagged by third parties for abnormally high wrong-to-right changes in answers since 2008. At Phoebe Hearst Elementary, Winston Education Campus, and Aiton Elementary, 85% or more of classrooms were identified as having high erasure rates in 2008. At four other schools, the percentage of classrooms in that category ranged from 17% to 58%. The total number of schools in D.C. with abnormal rates of wrong-to-right erasures is more than half of all schools. The article claimed that among the 96 schools that were flagged for wrong-to-right erasures were eight of the 10 campuses where Rhee handed out TEAM awards "to recognize, reward and retain high-performing educators and support staff." Noyes was one of several schools Rhee awarded after having been flagged for abnormally high erasures.

In return for increased test scores in D.C. schools, Rhee gave performance awards and increased compensation to the teachers and administrators. According to the article, "Rhee bestowed more than $1.5 million in bonuses on principals, teachers and support staff on the basis of big jumps in 2007 and 2008 test scores."

The USA Today report commented that experts said such aberrations should trigger investigations. No investigations occurred in D.C. in 2008. In 2009 a limited investigation was conducted on behalf of OSSE that examined whether protocols were adhered to at eight schools, but never examined whether administrators or teachers may have tampered with the test results. Mary Lord, a state board member, was critical of the decision not to investigate the 2008 scores. "If you are going to add all this weight" to testing, "hanging the principals' reputations ... and the teachers' pay on it, you have to make sure it is totally accurate," Lord says. Current acting chancellor, Kaya Henderson, said that all suspicious scores had been investigated. Henderson was Rhee's deputy chancellor.

Rhee defended herself on the Tavis Smiley Show. She claimed an unnamed "third party" investigated any suspicious scores. Rhee did not explain the high rate of erasures on tests, but called the USA Today article an attack on school reform. She said, "It isn’t surprising that the enemies of school reform once again are trying to argue that the Earth is flat and that there is no way test scores could have improved .... unless someone cheated."^[39] Since then she told Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews that her previous remarks were "stupid" and she is glad her successor, Acting Chancellor Kaya Henderson, ordered a new investigation.^[40]

School choice and school vouchers

In 2008, Rhee's office released a statement that said, "While Chancellor Rhee hasn’t taken a formal position on vouchers, she disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city’s school system."^[41] In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on January 11, 2011, Rhee endorsed vouchers when she supported, "giving poor families access to publicly funded scholarships to attend private schools," adding that "All children deserve the chance to get a great education; no family should be forced to send kids to a school they know is failing."^[42] In a February 2011 speech before Georgia's legislature, she indicated she had supported the DC voucher program as a supplement to the charter school alternative. She said that if a parent did not win the lotto to get their child into a charter school, then "who I am to deny them a $7,500 voucher to send their child to a great Catholic school."^[43]

After D.C. schools

On December 6, 2010, Ms. Rhee went on the Oprah Winfrey show to announce that she had declined all job offers resulting from her high profile work as D.C. Chancellor and would be focusing on a new advocacy organization she had formed called StudentsFirst.^[44] She told Winfrey's audience she wanted to have one million members and raise one billion dollars in order to catalyze education reform in the United States.^[44] According to The New York Times abolishing teacher tenure is a main objective Rhee and the group.^[45] Within weeks of its founding, Rhee and Students First had advised the governors of Florida, Nevada and New Jersey on abolishing teacher tenure and other issues related to public education reform.^[45] In 2010-2011, Rhee served on the transition team of Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott.^[46]

She has also been a visible figure in the national media, appearing on television shows, radio programs, and the documentary film Waiting for Superman. In May 2011, Rhee spoke in favor of school choice alongside the Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker at an event hosted by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice education organization founded and funded by Betsy DeVos.^[47]

In October 2011, Rhee's group StudentsFirst launched an initiative to defend Michigan Republican Paul Scott against a recall effort.^[48] Rhee's organization has dedicated nearly $70,000 to defend state representative Scott. Scott's opponent in the upcoming race, Bobbie Walton, said StudentsFirst's involvement in the local election was "evidence of a national push to discredit teachers unions."

Awards and recognition

Rhee has served on the advisory boards for the National Council on Teacher Quality,^[49] and the National Center for Alternative Certification.^[50] She was a special guest of First Lady Laura Bush at President George W. Bush's 2008 State of the Union address.^[51]

Personal life

While Rhee was teaching, she met Kevin Huffman, who was also a member of Teach for America and later became head of public affairs of the organization.^[5] The couple married two years after they met and had two daughters before being divorced in 2007.^[5][52] The children attended the Oyster-Adams public elementary school, considered one of the best in Washington D.C. while Rhee was chancellor.^[5][53]

In March 2010, Rhee became engaged to Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento, California and former NBA player.^[54] The two married in September 2011 in a small ceremony at Blackberry Farm near Knoxville.^[55]

See also

District of Columbia portal

• Privatization
• No Child Left Behind Act
• Standardized test
• Teaching to the test
• Wendy Kopp

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Michael Neibauer (June 13, 2007). "Michelle Rhee: A teacher at heart". The Washington Examiner. http://dev.www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/michelle_rhee_a_teacher_at_heart2007-06-13T07_00_00.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "4년 임기 절반 넘긴 미셸 리에게 묻다 "당신의 개혁은 성공 중입니까?"" (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo. December 14, 2009. http://weekly.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/12/08/2009120800950.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
3. ^ Jim Iovino (November 5, 2009). "Lessons in Engagement: Rhee, Johnson reportedly engaged". NBC Washington. http://www.nbcwashington.com/around-town/events/Lessons-in-Engagement-69336137.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Harry Jaffe (September 1, 2007). "Can Michelle Rhee Save DC Schools?". Washingtonian. http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/5222.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Amanda Ripley (November 26, 2008). "Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444-2,00.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "Michelle A. Rhee". New York Times. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/michelle_rhee/index.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
7. ^ Bill Turque (August 13, 2011). "Michelle Rhee, first-year teacher". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-year_teach.html. Retrieved May 27, 2011. 
8. ^ "Rhee talks about her early misadventures in teaching" (audio recording). The Washington Post. August 13, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/08/13/VI2010081305444.html?sid=ST2010090503467. Retrieved May 27, 2011. 
9. ^ ^{a b c} "Proficiency Scores at Harlem Park Elementary". http://gfbrandenburg.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/cohort-effects-at-harlem-park-jpg.jpg. Retrieved May 31, 2011. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} Jay Matthews (February 8, 2011). "Michelle Rhee's early test scores". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/02/michelle_rhees_early_test_scor.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
11. ^ David Nakamura (June 12, 2007). "Fenty To Oust Janey Today: Head of Nonprofit That Trains Teachers Would Run Schools". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102383.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
12. ^ Andrew Rice (March 20, 2011). "Miss Grundy Was Fired Today—Once deified, now demonized, teachers are under assault". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/news/features/michelle-rhee-2011-3/. Retrieved May 29, 2011. 
13. ^ ^{a b c} Bill Turque (September 16, 2010). "Rhee: Election result 'devastating' for D.C. schoolchildren". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/09/rhee_election_result_devastati.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
14. ^ "U.S. spends average $8,701 per pupil on education". Reuters. May 24, 2007. http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/05/24/us-usa-education-spending-idUSN2438214220070524. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} Kate Bolduan (September 9, 2008). "'100 mph' school chief seeks 'radical changes'". CNN.com. http://articles.cnn.com/2008-09-09/living/dc.schools_1_public-schools-school-system-level-math-and-reading?_s=PM:LIVING. Retrieved May 30, 2011. 
16. ^ ^{a b c} Theola Labbé (November 29, 2007). "Short Notice on Plan to Close Schools Angers Council". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112801656.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
17. ^ "Plan to Close 23 D.C. Schools Revised". WTOP-FM. February 1, 2008. http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1337402. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
18. ^ Sam Dillon (November 12, 2008). "A School Chief Takes On Tenure, Stirring a Fight". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/education/13tenure.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
19. ^ Tamar Lewin (July 23, 2010). "School Chief Dismisses 241 Teachers in Washington". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/education/24teachers.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
20. ^ ^{a b c d e} Bill Turque (July 24, 2010). "Rhee dismisses 241 D.C. teachers; union vows to contest firings". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072303093.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
21. ^ Nikita Stewart and V. Dion Haynes (June 30, 2007). "Council to Challenge Rhee's Résumé". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902190.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
22. ^ ^{a b} Bill Turque (August 19, 2010). "Fenty's political fortunes tied to success of D.C. school reforms". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081806726.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
23. ^ Diane Ravitch (March 29, 2011). "Shame on Michelle Rhee: A new report shows student testing irregularities in D.C. under the leadership of star education reform advocate Michelle Rhee.". The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-29/michelle-rhees-cheating-scandal-diane-ravitch-blasts-education-reform-star/. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
24. ^ ^{a b c} Bill Turque and Jon Cohen (February 1, 2010). "D.C. Schools Chancellor Rhee's approval rating in deep slide". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013102757.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
25. ^ ^{a b} Bill Turque (May 9, 2008). "Rhee Dismisses Principal of School That Her Children Attend". The Washington Post: p. B06. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803000_pf.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
26. ^ Turque, Bill (October 16, 2008). "Rhee Fires Shepherd Principal, Raising Questions About Vetting". Washington Post. p. B01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503190_pf.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. "On Friday, less than two months into the academic year, Rhee fired BenZion. Her departure raises questions about the school system's vetting process .... what she described as a national campaign to recruit top-flight principals." 
27. ^ ^{a b c} Bill Turque (October 30, 2010). "Rhee Faces Irate Council At Meeting On Budget". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004225.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
28. ^ V. Dion Haynes (March 15, 2008). "Federal Official Praises Progress, Urges More Long-Term Planning". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031403726.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
29. ^ Dena Levitz (May 21, 2008). "Critics question nomination for school watchdog post". The Washington Examiner. http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/critics-question-nomination-school-watchdog-post. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
30. ^ V. Dion Haynes and Dan Keating (April 1, 2008). "Students Walk Out to Protest Security Policy". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102704.html. Retrieved 2010-05-12. "...chancellor was impressed with the students. "She told them it was a good plan and well thought out and she would definitely consider incorporating aspects of their proposal into the final plan."" 
31. ^ "Rhee Defends Firing Her Children's Principal". The Washington Post: p. B04. May 20, 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051903006.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
32. ^ Dena Levitz (May 16, 2008). "District's school union slams Rhee’s firing of principals". The Washington Examiner]. http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/district039s-school-union-slams-rhee-s-firing-principals. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
33. ^ Bill Turque (January 23, 2010). "Rhee says laid-off teachers in D.C. abused kids". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012204543.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
34. ^ Nick Anderson (January 27, 2010). "Rhee hedges remarks on laid-off teachers". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012601351.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
35. ^ Rotherham, Andrew (September 16, 2010). "Fenty's Loss in D.C.: A Blow to Education Reform?". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2019395,00.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
36. ^ Tom Moroney and Jeffrey Young (October 13, 2010). "Michelle Rhee Resigns as D.C. Schools Chancellor". Bloomberg Businessweek. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-13/michelle-rhee-resigns-as-d-c-schools-chancellor.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
37. ^ Alex Pareene (March 29, 2011). "Paranoid Michelle Rhee blames her "enemies" for cheating report: A Nixonian response from the former D.C. schools chancellor to news of statistical anomalies in her success stories". Salon. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/rhee_cheating/index.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
38. ^ Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello (March 28, 2011). "When standardized test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
39. ^ Bill Turque (March 29, 2011). "USA Today story brings fresh scrutiny to erasure issue". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/usa-today-story-brings-fresh-scrutiny-to-erasure-issue/2011/03/29/AFijVUuB_blog.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
40. ^ Jay Matthews (March 30, 2011). "Rhee says her remarks on test erasures were stupid". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/rhee-says-her-remarks-on-test-erasures-were-stupid/2011/03/30/AFTaTl3B_blog.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
41. ^ Mike DeBonis (October 16, 2008). "Rhee "Hasn’t Taken a Formal Position on Vouchers"". Washington City Paper. http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/10/16/rhee-hasnt-taken-a-formal-position-on-vouchers/. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
42. ^ Michelle Rhee (January 11, 2011). "In Budget Crises, an Opening for School Reform: School systems can put students first by making sure any layoffs account for teacher quality, not seniority". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576068142896954626.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
43. ^ Maureen Downey (February 10, 2011). "Michelle Rhee on vouchers, social promotion and putting kids first". Atlanta Journal Constitution. http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/02/10/michelle-rhee-on-vouchers-social-promotion-and-putting-kids-first/. Retrieved July 17, 2011. 
44. ^ ^{a b} "Michelle Rhee's Big Announcement". Oprah.com. December 6, 2010. http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Michelle-Rhees-Big-Announcement. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
45. ^ ^{a b} Trip Gabriel and Sam Dillon (January 31, 2011). "G.O.P. Governors Take Aim at Teacher Tenure". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/us/01tenure.html. Retrieved July 17, 2011. 
46. ^ Jennifer Epstein (December 6, 2010). "Michelle Rhee not heading to any state, district". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46022.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
47. ^ "Rhee to speak in D.C.". The Washington Post. Associated Press. May 9, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post_now/post/michelle-rhee-to-speak-in-dc/2011/05/09/AFPQkzWG_blog.html. Retrieved July 18, 2011. 
48. ^ "Michelle Rhee group StudentsFirst spends thousands to support Rep. Paul Scott in recall fight". mlive.com. Flint Journal. October 25, 2011. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/10/michelle_rhee_group_studentsfi.html. Retrieved October 26, 2011. 
49. ^ "National Council on Teacher Quality - NCTQ Advisory Board". National Council on Teacher Quality. http://www.nctq.org/p/about/advisory.jsp. Retrieved May 25, 2011. "The Advisory Board reflects our intent to firmly establish ourselves as a nonpartisan voice for urgently needed reforms of the nation's teacher policies. All of these individuals share our core commitment to educational justice, believing that we as a nation must do more to attract, develop, and retain good teachers." 
50. ^ "Advisory Board". National Center for Alternative Certification. http://www.teach-now.org/aboutboard.cfm. Retrieved May 31, 2011. 
51. ^ Howard Schneider (January 28, 2008). "Michelle Rhee Among First Lady's Guests". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/01/28/ST2008012801147.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
52. ^ Evan Thomas (August 22, 2008). "An Unlikely Gambler: By firing bad teachers and paying good ones six-figure salaries, Michelle Rhee just might save D.C.'s schools". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/2008/08/22/an-unlikely-gambler.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011. 
53. ^ Diana Jean Schemo (June 20, 2007). "Recruited to Rescue Washington's Schools". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/education/20face.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
54. ^ Wil Haygood (March 10, 2010). "Kevin Johnson's winning streak: NBA, Sacramento City Hall, Michelle Rhee's heart". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/09/AR2010030903532.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
55. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mayor_marries; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text

Further reading

• Richard Whitmire (February 8, 2011). The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation's Worst School District. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p. 296. ISBN 978-0470905296. 

• Karl Weber (ed.) (September 14, 2010). Waiting for "SUPERMAN": How We Can Save America's Failing Public Schools (Participant Guide Media). PublicAffairs. p. 288. ISBN 978-1586489274. 

External links

• Students First - Official website of Michelle Rhee's nonprofit education reform group
• The New Teacher Project
• Bio on National Council on Teacher Quality
• EAGTV video of speech given by Rhee, (7:53) on May 20, 2011
• "Michelle Rhee: 'You Can Change People's Hope'" National Public Radio, 2007-09-04
• PBS NewsHour Investigative Report, Part 1: D.C. Schools Chief Rhee Faces High Expectations for System Reform
• PBS NewsHour Investigative Report, Part 2: In Battle to Revamp D.C. Schools, Education Leader Faces Resistance
• PBS NewsHour Investigative Report, Part 3: In Washington, D.C., Schools Chief Faces Tough Choices
• C-SPAN Q&A: Brian Lamb interviews Michelle Rhee
• "Schoolhouse Rock: D.C. education chief says school choice shouldn't be reserved for the rich.". The Wall Street Journal. 2007-12-22. "I believe we should proliferate what's working and close down what's not. Period." 
• Interview with Michelle Rhee on PMAKid.com

Political offices
Preceded by Clifford Janey	Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools 2007-2010	Succeeded by Kaya Henderson Acting
Non-profit organization positions
New title	Chief Executive Officer of The New Teacher Project 1997-2007	Succeeded by Arlela Rozman
	Chief Executive Officer of StudentsFirst 2010-present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Rhee, Michelle
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 25, 1969
Place of birth	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Date of death
Place of death