Looks like the start of an excellent series by Jersey Jazzman.
This is how he begins his column:
Joel Klein: As Excellent As He Says He Is? Part I
I and many others spent a good deal of time last year documenting the real legacy of Michelle Rhee. This is important work: Rhee occupies an outsized place in the current debate about education “reform,” largely based on claims of her own success, both as a teacher and as Chancellor of Washington, D.C.’s schools.Thanks to the close scrutiny of Gary Brandenburg, Bob Somerby, Matt DiCarlo, Dana Goldstein, Diane Ravitch, USA Today, and others, we now know the true story: Rhee was never a miracle worker. She was, at best, an average new teacher (meaning she had a long way to go) and a mediocre large-city superintendent when judged by student achievement (when judged by other criteria, she was clearly a trainwreck).It’s important to get this on the record, because the anti-teacher and anti-union “reforms” Rhee implemented in D.C. – the very ones she wants to impose on the rest of the country – did nothing to affect large-scale changes in educational outcomes. Rhee’s argument for “reform” is, in fact, undercut by her own history.
I say that it’s time to start applying this same level of examination to other prominent members of the corporate “reform” movement. When they make claims of big successes, those claims ought to be vetted very carefully: after all, why should we listen to what they have to say about holding educators accountable if they aren’t held to account themelves?
Which brings us to Joel Klein.
Maybe he is confusing me with Gary Rubenstein?
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