Former DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee called for President Obama to "go a step further" with education reform in a second term. Rhee praised the president's Race To The Top initiative that awarded money to states and schools for completing certain reforms. She called it "very promising," but proposed that, instead of a small sliver of the budget, the federal government should make a majority of education funding "contingent upon moving things forward."
To fix the problem, Rhee argues, "the obvious solutions are all in the middle." She charges politicians to work together and figure out the answers "instead of staying in these polarized camps."
For students, the best thing schools can provide are options. By the time they graduate, students should "have the option to go on to a four-year university, and they have the skills and knowledge to do that without remediation. Or if they want to go straight into the work force, they have the knowledge necessary to get a well-paying job," Rhee said.
Watch the entire PRESS Pass discussion with Michelle Rhee above to hear more from the former DC schools chancellor including why she thinks there's no single solution to the debate about keeping our students safe in schools.
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Nothing this woman proposes has improved education. It has only worked to increase the work loads of teachers creating zero to minimal benefit while demonizing teachers to the public. It is based on a false premise that we can educate children as if they are on an assembly line (the factory method) without considering the basic truths possed by W. Edwards Deming that you cannot judge teachers and/or their students through so-called objective testing.
Thank you, Mr. Gregory, for that interview with Ms. Rhee. I love that we are maybe going to finally have an open and honest debate in the country to discuss the downfall of our education system since the 1950s and how we can fix it. During your next interview, I hope you will address the 1000 lb gorilla in the room- the cultural problems that cause most of the problems in education. How to we get all Americans to value education again? The best teachers, administrators and government officials in the world are powerless if kids are taught to disrespect education, schools, teachers, government, law enforcement etc. by the family. Ms. Rhee never directly addresses this issue in her polite and professional rhetoric, but I believe a further benefit of the ideas she is propagating is that the message will be changed to, "the future is in your hands." No Child Left Behind is such a noble idea, but at the same time, it is self or government-aggrandizement to think one person or a government can replace a person's free will. The government's only responsibility is to ensure opportunity, and when the message becomes, "its your choice," I think we might see some movement.
Mr. Gregory, how can you continue the myth that Ms Rhee is a reformer! Her reform in D.C. consisted of: 1. Everyone thinks a reformer fires teacher so I will randomly fire the most teachers ever. 2. D.C. thinks charter schools out perform public schools so I will use public school buildings, money, and services to label some schools as charter school and send all the special education students back to the public schools (didn't improve their scores). What a yuck moment when she talks about being a democrat when we all know that she works for the Kock brothers and their education agenda! Their agenda is for charter schools which allow for modern day segregation in more ways that special education! WAKE UP!
Michelle Rhee time is Washington DC was a waste. Now you give her 20 minutes of Sunday morning time and she says nothing other that she agrees that issues need to be looked at and we need change and she likes what others are doing. What a joke!!! If she had any since she would have plugged her book a little more; I'm assuming that's why she was really there.
Nice interview and somewhat incomplete. Our education system is akin to the post office's slow death. The model is out dated. Parents don't support it, students mock it, educators aren't respected by administrators, and administrators are out of touch with all three levels. We can't teach students, if we can reach their hearts, and we can't reach their hearts if their parents don't send them to school. If we do reach their hearts, we can't reach their minds if we lack the technology in our schools to teach them the skills they will need to be life long learners with meaningful, challenging and difficult work. We will not reach their hands if administrators don't roll the rocks out of our way and provide programs, classes, new methods of instructional delivery and more cost effective institutions with professional pay schedules. It is meaningless to fund a $30 million building on campus, when education is being outsourced with online applications. The money would be better spend educating and paying teachers to deliver instruction where our learners reside. We need to integrate the head, heart and hands of students, parents, teachers and administrators and find students where they are physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Everyone is being educated today faster then ever before with access to research papers, google links, language translators and ask TED, with just in time education via the internet. The encyclopedia use to be on the bookshelf in the home, today it is in the hand of the student. Let's help everyone learn their native alphabet as fast as possible, and get them on to the next step..."words." We don't need more study halls for kids to hang out in waiting for the bell with longer days and more days, we need faster bells. Test them for their skills and move then on. We are never going to run out of things to learn.
Let's all worship someone who was once in education who fired lots of people but never increased learning or test scores in a meaningful way. Way to go NBC lol
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=215125001967375&set=vb.145530532162873&type=2&theater
Michelle Rhee on OPRAH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPsqO17f6Lw
Michelle Rhee on abc's ThisWeek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nep1mcaFthU
Michelle Rhee on The DailyShow with Jon Stewart
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/michelle-rhee
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/exclusive---michelle-rhee-extended-interview-pt--2
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-4-2013/exclusive---michelle-rhee-extended-interview-pt--3
Why Teach For America works - Michelle Rhee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUs_hsHaqSA
A Two-Tier Proposal for Teacher Pay - Michelle Rhee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pii96AoTPw
Geoffrey Canada - Conversations at KCTS 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxP6Ov5PSG8
Geoffrey Canada interviewed by Julian Bond: Explorations in Black Leadership ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f5MZKf6Uu4
Time Magazine: Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444-2,00.html
Michelle Rhee Discusses "Waiting for Superman," Charter Schools And Sch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLih24QdwH8
Stanford University: A Conversation on "Waiting for Superman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzrjo7Fvs1A
"Radical" Fighting to Put Students First should be a must read for all studentsfirst.org members! Michelle Rhee's new book, "RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First," is now in stores! For more information about where you can find it, to read an excerpt from the book, and to share your story about education in America visit the official site at http://www.edradical.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/edradical.
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/michelle-rhee/510ff3b02b8c2a138f000747
Michelle Rhee at the ACE 2011 Spring Luncheon https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=mO9F-amHDuw
Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson (4/20/11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=OCcNzh7C_Tk&feature=endscreen
Michelle A. Rhee 03.17.11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD0g8Jb9l78
Cornell Alumni: Olin Lecture 2012: Michelle Rhee '92https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFD-wkAEi8
Harvard Public Health: Michelle Rhee, Former Chancellor of Washington D.C. Public Schoolshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH0twXcxNUY
"Waiting for Superman" the documentary and Bloomberg documentary "Risk Takers" Michelle Rhee should a required screening for all studentsfirst.org members. I saw them on Netflix and became an instant member of studentsfirst.org and Michelle Rhee follower.
"Won't Back down" the movie is another example to screen.
Share the reasons you fight for education reform. Your story will inspire others to get involved. So tell us: Why are you working to put students first? http://www.studentsfirst.org/facebook-story
Check out today's blog by StudentsFirst staffer Charity Hallman, "One size fits all, or so they said," on The Fordham Institute's "Education Gadfly Daily: FLYPAPER" blog.
To view the Fordham study, "When Teachers Choose Pension Plans: The Florida Story," visit http://www.studentsfirst.org/fordham-study-on-fl-teacher-pension-reform
Watch MAKER videos on StudentFirst Founder Michelle Rhee visit www.makers.com/michelle-rhee