Rhee’s New Advocacy Group

News headlines pointing out that Waiting for Superman was not nominated for one of tonight's Academy Awards combined with the media frenzy surrounding Michelle Rhee's new advocacy group have directed my attention back to the education reform debate. On Friday night, I had a few friends over for vegan chili and a discussion of Waiting for Superman and we came to the unanimous conclusion that the film unduly glorified Rhee and grossly oversimplified our nation's education dilemma.

In Waiting for Superman, Guggenheim frames the discussion on education reform around a fictional mutual exclusivity of the interests of children and adults as if changes that benefit teachers cannot also help students. Rhee's new advocacy group, Students First, also subscribes to this philosophy and seeks to limit the power of teachers unions and strip teachers of job protections like tenure. Through Students First, Rhee intends to raise a billion dollars to counter the political clout of teachers unions, which contribute heavily to the Democratic Party at the national level.

During her stint as Chancellor of DC public schools, Rhee gained notoriety for firing a record number of teachers. 75 of these 1,000 teachers have recently had their jobs reinstated and were granted back-pay following a finding that Rhee never provided a reason for their termination. Also, IMPACT, the method Rhee used to measure teacher job performance in DC, has been strongly criticized as unfair. Student test scores were one of the central components of the measure and it's not clear if standardized test scores can be directly linked teacher performance. The American Federation of Teachers recommends using a different termination process that values peer input.

As teachers and other public employees are fighting to keep their collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and around the nation, Rhee is busy gathering the resources necessary to impede their progress. Students First is a thinly veiled vehicle designed to support right-wing education reforms that place educators under the knife on the operating table of government budget cuts.