The latest DC-CAS scores have been partly released, and at first glance, they appear to show the utter bankruptcy of all of the efforts if Rhee, Henderson and their hangers-on and billionaire sponsors.
Yes, they got rid of just about all the veteran teachers — fired without cause ( like some of my former colleagues) resigned under duress (ditto), or just plain retired (like me). And at some schools, more than 100% of the staff is turned over EVERY SINGLE YEAR as bright-eyed TFA and TNTP recruits are ground to shreds with insane demands and no support, so they quit mid-year.
By their admitted incompetence at running a school system, Rhee, Henderson et al managed to turn over 40% of the students in DC over to charter school operators, quite a few if whom have turned out to be embezzlers and con artists — or major league swindlers like one of the former principal at Noyes ES/EC just down the road from my house in Brookland .
You probably do not recall that when Michelle Rhee was still chancellor, she signed a binding agreement with the Walton and Gates foundations about all the miracles she would wreak when she got their money.
My colleague Erich Martel ( of Wilson and Phelps) went through that list and found that NOT A SINGLE ONE of those measurable targets had been reached.
Response from Rhee, Henderson, DCPS, OSSE, and those foundations?
Deafening silence.
Rhee continues to take in the big bucks (20 speeches a year at $50K each = $1 million!)
Now, the most recent results, if DCist is to be believed, show also that there has been essentially no progress on academic goals, if we measure that by the percentages if students deemed ” proficient” on the DC/CAS since 2008, Rhee’s first year.
I donno if you can see that but there were essentially NO increases in any subgroup since 2008 – six full years – in reading.
I’ll post some more when I’m at a real computer.
GFBrandenburg's Blog 
Thanks for the update. I will be watching.
I was trying to find the research findings I read years ago that said the most effective teachers are the rogue teachers who ignore the policy makers, roll up their sleeves and do for their students what needs to be done. (Very, very difficult in the current climate, if one wishes to still be employed.) I couldn’t find it, because it has all been buried by “research” that says merit pay for highly effective teachers is the only way to go.
Funny, the volunteer I had with me down here this year. Had 80 percent of her students pass the reading tests (while the average of the rest of the school was 40%). This after looping, creating a compassionate class and using tools and strategies she knew to worked. She was not “highly effective” only for the goals she herself set for her and the class. It was her own TAS (Teacher Accessed Student Data) the goals, she herself set, that kept her from the “highly effective” category. There is a new twist on the whole impact scheme.
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[…] Schools during the tenure of Michelle Rhee and her successor Kaya Henderson. G.F. Brandenburg noted these facts on his blog on July 31. Brandenburg asks: “So where are all those increases that Michelle […]
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[…] Schools during the tenure of Michelle Rhee and her successor Kaya Henderson. G.F. Brandenburg noted these facts on his blog on July 31. Brandenburg asks: “So where are all those increases that Michelle Rhee […]
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