What Michelle Rhee did in D.C.: Point by point
This was written by Rachel Levy, a native of Washington D.C. and a graduate of the city's public school system. She has been a teacher of social studies and E.S.O.L. in D.C. Public Schools, Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia, and in Oakland, Calif. She is a writer who lives in Ashland, Va., with her husband and three children. A version of this piece appeared on her education blog athttp://allthingsedu.blogspot.com
By Rachel Levy
Here's what a lot of people are saying about Michelle Rhee as they sort out her legacy as chancellor of Washington D.C. public schools: Her policies were right on target and she moved city schools forward, but her big problem was simply that she didn’t play well with others. This assessment is wrong. Her reforms weren’t good policy, and criticism that her hard-charging style stifled her own well-intentioned reforms, such as is made here, misses the point.
Rhee's ideas about how to fix the ailing school system were largely misinformed, and it's no wonder: She knew little about instruction, curriculum, management, fiscal matters, and community relations. She was, to be sure, abrasive; she and Mayor Adrian Fenty, admitted as