The Answer Sheet: D.C. public schools


Posted at 01:19 PM ET, 05/09/2013

The charter future of D.C. public schools
By Valerie Strauss
With one decision about one elementary school, D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is filling in the picture of the future for the city's long troubled school system.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:19 PM ET, 05/09/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Chancellor's New Move, D.C. Public Schools

Posted at 11:01 AM ET, 04/26/2013

A bad idea in D.C. on school reform -- and a sharp response (update)
By Valerie Strauss
The belief that this process should start with a team of lawyers and not end with one speaks to a fundamental missed opportunity.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:01 AM ET, 04/26/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  'Stop Hunting and Ask the Crowd', A Bad Idea, D.C. Public Schools, School Reform

Posted at 06:02 AM ET, 04/22/2013

What's wrong with this school language survey form?
By Valerie Strauss
Look at this Home Language Survey Form from D.C. Public Schools to parents. What's wrong with it?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:02 AM ET, 04/22/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  D.C. Public Schools, DCPS Home Language Survey

Posted at 12:58 PM ET, 04/16/2013

D.C. custodial staff were evaluated by student test scores. Really. (update)
By Valerie Strauss
How obsessive have school reformers been with linking student standardized test scores to the evaluations of adults in school buildings?

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:58 PM ET, 04/16/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  D.C. Public Schools, Evaluation, That's Not All

Posted at 12:15 AM ET, 01/09/2013

Ravitch on Rhee
By Valerie Strauss
The PBS show "Frontline" on Tuesday night aired John Merrow's documentary on Michelle Rhee, which focused on the 3 1/2 years she was chancellor of D.C. Public Schools. There is sure to be a variety of opinions on what it said and what it didn't say. Below is the reaction of education historian Diane Ravitch, the preeminent voice in the growing opposition to Rhee's style of school reform.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:15 AM ET, 01/09/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  D.C. Public Schools, Michelle Rhee, Reaction to Frontline Profile

Posted at 10:58 AM ET, 11/29/2012

Updated: Michelle Rhee writes a zealot's manifesto,' er, memoir
By Valerie Strauss
Michelle Rhee has written a memoir that gives her version of reality about the years (2007-2010) that she ran D.C. Public Schools and became a national leader of corporate-based school reform. The book is due out next year but Washington City Paper's Loose Lips has already read it and describes it in less than flattering terms. Here are some of the highlights.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:58 AM ET, 11/29/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  D.C. Public Schools, Michelle Rhee, Rhee-visionist History

Posted at 11:25 AM ET, 11/21/2012

The future of D.C. public schools
By Valerie Strauss
D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson's plan to close 20 traditional public schools in the nation's capital is nothing if not an acknowledgement that the system over which she presides is inexorably dwindling and being transformed into a collection of independently run public charter schools.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:25 AM ET, 11/21/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Charter Schools, D.C. Public Schools

Posted at 03:40 PM ET, 11/09/2012

Sprouts for sprouts
By Valerie Strauss
It isn't a vegetable that kids gravitate to, but brussel sprouts were the centerpiece of a bunch of concoctions at a taste test for D.C. school children. Picture from the D.C. Central Kitchen.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:40 PM ET, 11/09/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  D.C. Public Schools, School Food

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/30/2010

Education implications of D.C. mayoral primary
By Valerie Strauss
Frederick Hess looks at the three education takeaways from The Washington Post poll showing D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty behind his challenger in the Democratic primary.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  adrian fenty, d.c. mayor, d.c. mayor's race, d.c. public schools, d.c. schools and rhee, fenty and rhee. mayor's race, fenty poll, frederick hess, mayor's poll, michelle rhee, rick hess, washington post poll, will rhee stay?

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 07/28/2010

Were some D.C. teachers fired based on flawed calculations?
By Valerie Strauss
A professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, argues that D.C. Public Schools botched the calculations that were used to decide to fire some of the 241 teachers let go last week.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:30 AM ET, 07/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  DC CAS, IMPACT evaluation system, d.c. public schools and teachers, d.c. schools, d.c. teachers fired, how rhee fired teachers, rhee and d.c. and fire and teachers, rhee fires teachers, value added and teachers, why rhee fired teachers

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 05/20/2010

Charters should leave D.C. teachers contract alone
By Valerie Strauss
Public charter school advocates are, not surprisingly, upset about a proposed new contract that will significantly boost the salaries of unionized teachers in traditional D.C. public schools. But D.C. school system officials have it right: They shouldn’t be.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 05/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  charter schools, d.c. charter schools, d.c. public schools, d.c. teachers contract, michelle rhee, teachers contract, washington teachers union

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 04/09/2010

Rhee's biggest, and most costly, failing
By Valerie Strauss
A former school superintendent, teacher and now a university professor writes about the biggest failing of D.C. Schools Superintendent Michelle Rhee, and why it may ultimately lead to her departure from the city.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:00 PM ET, 04/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools, D.C. Schools | Tags:  D.C. public schools, D.C. teachers pact, Larry Cuban, Michelle Rhee, Rhee and teachers

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 03/22/2010

Inexcusable: Empty promises to a D.C. school
By Valerie Strauss
What can you say after you say that D.C. school officials have yet again let down a school community that has been trying for years to get decent conditions in which its students and young children can learn each weekday? A lot.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 03/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools | Tags:  Chancellor Michelle Rhee., D.C. public schools

Posted at 10:10 AM ET, 01/28/2010

Rhee: In her own words
By Valerie Strauss
Nobody is immune from saying things they don’t mean--but it is probably a good idea to watch what you say when you work in the public eye. A reader put together this list of quotes from D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, suggesting a record of inconsistencies that go beyond the most recent controversy surrounding her word. Rhee got into trouble recently over remarks to a magazine that teachers laid off last October had had sex with children and hit kids. After my colleague Bill Turque wrote about the comments, it came out that one of the 266 teachers had been accused of having sex with a student. Here is the list of Rhee quotes, with links. What do you think?

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:10 AM ET, 01/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools | Tags:  d.c. public schools, michelle rhee

Posted at 03:22 PM ET, 01/25/2010

Rhee in trouble; Gray not helping
By Valerie Strauss
What was she thinking? Even for D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who routinely attracts controversy, this time she really stirred up unnecessary trouble by telling a magazine that some of the teachers that she laid off last year because of budget cuts had been having sex with children and hitting them. Really? I can’t figure out if Rhee actually likes stirring up controversy or just muddles her way into it--or both--but in this instance, whether it was a hasty remark she didn’t intend to make or an intentional bomb, I don’t see a good way out. Why didn't she do something about it earlier?

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:22 PM ET, 01/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools | Tags:  dc public schools, michelle rhee, sidwell

Posted at 10:10 AM ET, 01/25/2010

Rhee D.C.’s person of the year?
By Valerie Strauss
Let’s congratulate D.C. Schools Chancellor for being named the Federal City Council’s Washington D.C.’s Person of the Year. Now let’s look at the rationale behind the decision, explained in an advertisement in yesterday’s Washington Post on page B2, the second page of the Outlook section--and see whether it holds together. It was signed by Frank Keating, the president of the Federal City Council and former governor of Oklahoma.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:10 AM ET, 01/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools | Tags:  d.c. public schools, michelle rhee, school reform