September 9, 2008
Schools Roundup: Plan B Edition
In Denver a couple of weeks ago, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee provoked speculation with her comment that she had a “Plan B” ready on deck should the controversial teachers’ contract fail to pass. On Friday, Rhee revealed that Plan B.
Basically, Rhee will use powers already under her authority to revise the teacher evaluation process, changes she can make without seeking union or council approval. More significantly, new rules taking effect this week will allow State Superintendent Deborah Gist to create “an advanced teaching credential,” tying teacher licensing to classroom performance. Typically, licenses are granted based on academic credentials, and renewal only requires additional coursework or professional development.
"The contract is the way that I would prefer to go,” Rhee told a group of education reporters, “But if we can't get to agreement on the contract, there's another very clear way that we can get there. ... The bottom line is we are going to bring accountability in a very significant way to the educator force in this school district."
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
While at first glance this plan may not seem like a substitution for the proposals being offered in the teachers contract, these new rules accomplish one incredibly important step — tying jobs to performance. If teachers can’t show that students are learning, they won’t be able to renew their licenses and keep teaching. It’s the principle that’s at the heart of merit pay, and at the heart of a larger debate about urban education reform. On one side you have those who believe that external factors like poverty so impact student performance that it’s unfair to hold teachers accountable, and on the other, those who argue that teachers should take full responsibility for student learning — anything else is lowering expectations for the kids who need help most.
What will be interesting to watch is how these rule changes may play as a stick to the carrot of the salary increases in the new contract, which isn’t dead just yet. Some teachers may now figure that since they’re going be to held accountable anyway, why not be paid more money for it? The Washington Teachers’ Union is not pleased at all by these developments, but as Marc Fisher wrote over the weekend, “unless the regular public schools start competing effectively against the city's 56 charter schools, [WTU members] will find themselves losing their jobs anyway, as the public schools continue to shrink at a rapid pace.” New reports released this week show DCPS attendance continuing to decline, having dropped 17 percent since last year.
Schools Notes: Flypaper takes a look at which DCPS schools the Obama or Palin kids would attend, should their parents actually send their girls to a D.C. public school… A brief history of how DCPS got so screwed up, but not everyone agrees… Ballou HS’s marching band needs help raising money to get to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… Need a Rhee fix? Check out the Chancellor on CNN and the Kojo Nnamdi Show.
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I know it's wrong, but every time I read "plan B" I imagine Rhee taking a pill that makes all her problems go away, accompanied by some mild cramping. Yeah, I'm going to hell.
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hahaha, good luck getting any of the potential incoming politicians to get their kids in DCPS. how the heck did registration fall 17 percent? did thousands of kids die this summer without it making the news?
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I applaud her cajones in this end run - since the union stonewalled the contract (which they are permitted to do), she's accomplished the same thing with her 'Chancellor powers' (which they can't challenge). The only thing that's missing from this scenario is the burning of the Reichstag...
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Three comments in, and I've already heard about her who-haa and her cajones. I'm getting confused.
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I am a teacher, so Roberts, I will get out my purple pen and correct your español. The word, por favor, is cojones. And Rhee's got ém. But yeah, Rhee will make an end run around the WTU if they can't bring this contract to a vote and get it ratified. It's really unpopular with DC teacehrs, but 100 times better than the ugly Plan B. At least teachers will get a nice fat raise under the contract. With Plan B, it's all stick and not a bit of carrot. So teachers, if you don't like the contract, wait until you see Plan B. So let's vote for the contract, if there are any DCPS out there reading, unless you're too busy correcting student essays.
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@IMGoph - how the heck did registration fall 17 percent? did thousands of kids die this summer without it making the news?
No they just all left the public school system and entered various charter and private schools in DC. Read Marc Fisher's article above to read more about it. Its linked as "Marc Fisher wrote".
If DC public teachers want to continue with the same old system and the same results that's fine but I don't want to hear any complaints from them when they lose their job because there is no children left in the public system to teach.
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As a parent of a DCPS 6th grader I for one have been hoping all along she'ld just cut the BS and go ahead with Plan B anyway.
As for where Obama will send his kids, I figure it will be wherever Fenty's attend. I figure Palin will send her's to Rock Creek Park.
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Speaking of that did Fenty send his kids to a DCPS school this year as advertised? Anyone know where?
My money for the Obama's would be on the Howard affiliated math and science charter school.
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good question, uman. haven't heard that reported anywhere.
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I work for DCPS and have not heard that Fenty put his kids in a public school. A few years ago, Malcolm was in Pre-K at his neighborhood school, West. Malcolm's twin brother was in another school, not a public one, I think a charter. Malcolm was then transferred out of the public school and went to the school his brother was attending. Though I think politicians should send their kids to public schools, families have to do what is right for their children, including the Fentys. I would though like to see them at nearby West, Brightwood or Powell, or even an out of boundary school west of the park that has an excellent reputation (Key, Stoddert, Mann, Murch, Lafayette).
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Well, at least Rhee isn't talking about Alternative 3, which would be an exponential improvement over what DCPS has now.
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Whether they have who-has or cajones, if reformers can't convince parents to keep children in the school system, their reforms are going to amount to a pile of squat. Arguments that charters haven't been doing any better than traditional schools aren't sufficient. DCPS schools need to improve both their scores and their image (with the later harder to do than the former). They'd certainly get on the right track if some of those high-name officials sent their kids to public schools. Considering where they do/would live their schools probably wouldn't be that bad anyway...
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I passed MR as i dropped my kid off at our DCP school this morning. I know of 3 or 4 senators and congresspeople who've enrolled their kids in DCP schools too (last 4 years).
In fact i also know of diplomats and embassy staff and others like WB / IDB officers who take advantage of the free public education and drop their kids off at DCP schools (west of the park).
I was wondering if more parents enrolled in charter schools, would that actually help the DCPS since the smaller population would give teachers more effectiveness?
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Schools such as Hyde in G'Town, Murch and other west of the park schools have embassy kids. Even Marie Reed and West have had children from embassies. I'm not talking about Western European countries, but mostly third world nations such as Burma (sorry, Myamar), Mongolia (the embassy is in G'Town, and other places including Ukraine. Stoddert had Russian kids (and Soviet ones back in the day), as the embassy is nearby. The Chinese diplomats don't generally come here with their kids. These international children, though few, really diversify the schools population and are an asset, though their diplomat parents are not US or DC taxpayers, as a courtesy, DCPS takes them.
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Y'all are hardheaded. I mentioned above that cojones is how to spell the word and you kept misspelling it. No recess for you.
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1. I'm new to DCPS.
2. While I appreciate the task Rhee has taken on, I want to point out her 3 -- read that: THREE -- years in the classroom...enough to idealistically believe one can "make a difference" yet still about 1 or 2 years shy of humbly realizing there are other variables that carry far greater weight in a student's academic success than oneself.
3. That said, the more colleagues I meet, the more I realize how much "culling of the herd" still needs to happen in DCPS.
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@Kelly regarding your point 2 .. It's not about teachers, its about the kids.
...this is David vs. Goliath. For 30 years no one stepped up to do what needed to be done while each year officials within the union and the "system" grew increasingly more corrupt or at least dysfunctional (I know that most people joined with the best of intentions).
Give MR and the Mayor the time they were granted to do what was agreed and then when his term is up measure & compare what was done with what would have been and decide if our KIDS are better off then they were four years before.
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erahk0, who's saying it's not about the kids?? Your point is a non sequitur. But since you brought it up, with her new salary plans (however many she has up her sleeve) and the current focus on improving instruction, I have to disagree with you: right now, yeah, it IS about the teachers. The kids stand to benefit from any improvements made now, and she's having to repair a pretty f'd up infrastructure.
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Kelly, it's not just the infrastructure that's f'd up it is so much more that that. It's the whole "System" you work in and its bureacrats. Corruption, greed, negligence just to name a few moral and ethical issues DC Citizens have lived with for 30 years.
The current focus right now is the same as it has been and should always be .. Your Kids Future. Not your salary nor your job security.
The Deputy's method to fix the "System" includes this one step (dealing with WTU & restructuring teaching positions) in this large-scale process.