wouldn't just about 100% of people leave for a better paying job if given the chance (as long as they get to enjoy what they're doing)?

Creativity is "good and whatever"? Fuck you, Butterface. Your failure to look at the big picture dooms your plan to failure.

On the Mathews collection, I thought the money quote was Mark Simon's. "Believing that all kids can learn does not make one good at helping kids succeed." Teachers shouldn't instinctively give up on students from challenging home situations, but is Rhee/DCPS giving teachers the wherewithal to translate their can-do attitudes into real achievements for disinclined students?

didn't she shape up the SF city schools? i think she can do it if the infighting ceases (likely) and people collectively set their sights on the primary goals here, which are (1) making sure the kids stay in school and (2) that they learn while they're there.

i agree with her statement about reading being fundamental. yes, she could work on her soft skills, surely, but bitches get thangs done!

What "school fixin?" Becton didn't do squat. Almost as big a failure as Camille "The Dragon Lady" Barnett, more famous for her half mil contract buyout package than anything she accomplished in her lousy one year as Chief Financial Management Officer. Financial Mediocre Officer, more likely.

I would like to see Rhee, or someone, running around the playground at the school behind my house with a stick screaming at the top of her lungs at the kids who spend their recess throwing trash at passing dogs, and rocks at old ladies while speaking in profanity laden illiteracy tongues like a bunch of hardened inmates. In fact, we need some of those abusive nuns from the movies and 8 hour vocabulary marathons. I would volunteer, but I am not much better than the kids and would be among them throwing trash shortly.

Has any of Rhee's changes actually proven effective at increasing literacy rates or test scores?

I know she came in with a whirlwind of school closings, teacher layoffs and what not, but have any of these changes actually borne fruit?

Eisenhut,

Those changes have not been enacted prior to this school year and tests are annual- so of course we don't know the results.

It's virtually impossible, given that no teachers are willing to cooperate on something new and radical, to judge the effectiveness of programs except in a 3-4 year time frame.

Now, if the teachers union was willing to create their own teacher effectiveness ratings, much like union plumbers have certifications and apprentices, then we might see results. For some unknown reason they keep repeating the falsehood that one cannot accurately judge the vagaries of teaching. That's a lie and they know it. Of course anyone who was ever a student knows that's not true- we could tell pretty early who made learning fun and who was going through the motions.

And everyone:
I've met a LOT of DCPS teachers, probably more than anyone reading this board who isn't a teacher, and the majority of those I met have been substandard teachers with low intellects. Their opinion of what quality teaching is or their opinion of how they should control their creativity in the classroom is not worth any of our respect and definitely nothing the Chancellor should listen to. I had a year of teachers sh*tting on the floor and calling it roses. Maybe they believed they were creating roses! They probably had themselves fooled! But it was still sh*t.

I repeat- the teachers are lying to themselves about the quality of their work- it's garbage. You cannot trust any of their own analysis of their own work because they're lying. Remember that when you read Jay Matthews.

We're in a top-flight Ward 3 school now with a world-class teacher in a school full of world-class teachers. If my kid's old school had HALF as many teachers delivering results we'd still be in that school. The reality is that, as far as I know, Rhee fired at least 10 fake teachers from that school. These were not real teachers, but non-educators who couldn't pass certification with Barry-era connections holding down a job with no real concern for the kids. They would complain that they regularly had to work an extra hour or two after class to prepare for the next day (meaning they worked a 7-8 hour day). But more often than not, I'd enter the classroom and see it a shambles with kids work piled in unsorted stacks. At my son's current school I have poked my head around and EVERY teacher has a clean and neat room with no organization issues.

Rhee must be supported and some teachers, maybe even half the DCPS teachers will have to lose their jobs so they can be replaced by real teachers.

I called a teacher Dr. the whole year before I realized that the school she got her doctorate from was University of Phoenix, the online "school!" How do you think I reacted to her six figure salary then?

Neener:

I called a teacher Dr. the whole year before I realized that the school she got her doctorate from was University of Phoenix, the online "school!" How do you think I reacted to her six figure salary then?

I'm really curious as to how many teachers in D.C. are earning a six-figure salary. A DCPS teacher with 21+ years on the job and a full Ph.D. (60+ credit hours) earns less less than $100k per year. The most recent data I could find is from 2006, when a teacher such as the above would earn $87,580 per year.

Of course if Rhee's new teacher contract proposal passes, the salaries could be much higher. But are there really teachers in DCPS who are currently making over $100,000 per year?

Eisenhut, your data is not quite right. A DCPS teacher with that experience and a PhD may START at $87k but gets a raise every year, meaning that a solid percentage of PhD-holders make $100k plus.

All,

The teacher in question had decades of experience and a PhD- they most certainly made 6 figures. My kid's current teacher makes over 6 figures. I know 4 teachers by name who are making $100k+. I don't believe this is uncommon in DCPS.

This is called DC Schedule A Personnel data and is available by school right here:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/list/

Doubt all you want, this only shows that I am more educated on DCPS issues than average DCist readers.

Regarding open enrollments at DC Schools.

DCPS basically allows parents to move to any open school. That is often due to NCLB issues and is commonplace in all school districts with very poor performance.

This allowed Rhee to shut down schools that were being boycotted by parents. Some were as low as 25% enrollment.

At our original school all but two of our friends left after their first year. It was soul-crushing because the teachers destroyed all the hard work the parents tried to create in the PTA. We definitely were faced with the bad choice of abandoning a school we donated a lot of money to, but the teachers simply would not be bowed and refused to do any good work. In their defense, the administration was average, but really now.

I am definitely bitter, but happy in my new school that while it doesn't have a great administration, it has tremendous teachers who do deliver better results. When my kid is doing 15-20 projects in a week then I know they are being taught something real and the teachers aren't just giving them free play.

Neener:

A quick look showed seven teachers making $100k+ at Wilson High.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/132/staff/

OK, so I took a look. At the top of the page is the sentence "The top pay for a 10-month teacher with at least 21 years experience and a doctorate or two master's degrees is $87,584."

However, "The way compensation is estimated varies by school and position; sometimes it includes salary plus 15 percent for benefits, raising the total budgeted cost for a top teacher to just over $100,000."

And it really means just over. There are six teachers earning $100,720 per year and one principal earning $102,603 per year. That's out of 126 staff at the school. So less than 6 percent of staff at WWHS earn more than $100k per year (but none more than $103k).

Also, Woodrow Wilson is probably the best high school in the city and I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to attract some of the more well-seasoned (and therefore better-paid) teachers in the city.

I don't really care either way; I just like to argue, and happen to have a light workload today :)

Thanks, Chelita, for your first-hand input.

Oh Chelita you know me too well.

I spent three days over MLK weekend painting the run-down school building in potential violation (we were never caught). I spent a hot August 2007 weekend planting flowers and completely renovating the playground. The facility didn't bother me, I could repair that.

Norfolk State, Morgan State, Clark Atlanta, Cheyney, Lincoln University... hearing the teachers talk was an education in HBCUs of the 1970s. Teachers' daughters who worked as teachers aides attended Strayer, Southeastern, Coppin State, Fayetteville State and others. Knew some, didn't know most, and by April 2008 I was asking every teacher where they got their degree from and how hard it was to pass Praxis 1- just to see their reaction. Couldn't tell you which program was good and which wasn't. When I found out in September my son's new teacher was getting a PhD from American I almost cried because AU I at least knew.

To say the teachers didn't know how to relate to me (or the dozen or so friends of ours from that classroom) is an understatement. The teachers didn't really want us there even as the principal did. But we're all gone now. We're all gone to Ward 3, Charters, Private schools and the suburbs.

No one watched Springer, but teachers DID watch Barney! And not just one teacher, but multiple teachers and I filed complaints in writing, but I think other parents just tried to skate by without rocking the boat.

Worksheets were the norm, naturally.

I did have confirmation from the daughter of the U of Phoenix teacher about the six figure comment which drew me to the Schedule A data, but it's possible she was being sarcastic. I don't doubt your experience and just want you to know that I HAD heard different numbers.

Why Mothers, daughters and nieces should all work at the same school is another part of the mystery. They weren't the good teachers...

The real clincher you don't mention though was when the teacher refused to teach the kids the Pledge of Allegiance, refused to allow a flag in class and refused to teach the kids patriotic songs and American folktales. During the era of Barack Obama on TV every night during the primaries one would think we had achieved a certain measure of inclusive patriotism. Not in DCPS.

I have heard some of my more paranoid and conspiracy-believing DPCS teaching colleagues say that Rhee just wants to get rid of black teachers so that the white people can take over DC public schools. Several have also said they don't want white children in their classes because their parents are too demanding and want things their way. Again, I see that they are not comfortable with diversity (yet we're supposed to be)and unfamiliar with groups other than their own. A white colleague was repeated asked who he voted for. The black coworker assumed because he was white that he voted for McCain (not the case at all). Another assumed a white teacher came from a rich family, just because she was white (and Jewish). To me, just is just plain ignorance. Hopefully it is changing with a new crop of DCPS teachers.

I love Rhee. She has done alot for the schools!
:)