Frederick M. Hess's Blog
Michelle Rhee Walks the Walk
by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 26, 2010 at 9:42 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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On Saturday, the Washington Post's Bill Turque reported that D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee used the district's IMPACT evaluation system to terminate 165 teachers based on performance and identified another 737 as "minimally effective," giving them one year to improve. The usual carping is already evident and the Washington Teachers Union is grieving the firings.
But, once again, Rhee got it right. As jarring and painful as it may be for those used to the clubby routines of K-12, this is what transformational leadership looks like. And the WaPo editorial board once again got it right too,staunchly backing Rhee in an editorial on Sunday. The WaPo noted that all the lip service "given to not tolerating bad teachers" generally rings hollow. It endorsed Rhee's "unprecedented" move, observed that she inherited a system where 8 percent of eighth-graders were on grade level in math but 95 percent of teachers were rated as excellent, and noted that each termination decision was made only after teachers were
