Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Dec. 8 Metro article "Up Close, Rhee's Image Less Clear" didn't give enough attention to the perspective of the thousands of D.C. residents, including the more than 600 members of DC School Reform Now, who are supportive of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's bold plans to improve the city's public schools.

Rhee has received such laudatory national attention because she deserves it; disrupting the status quo in the District's deplorable educational system is worthy of our praise. Rhee has made it clear that there are no excuses for failing to educate D.C. children. Decisions must be based on how best to improve student achievement across the board and to close the achievement gaps among Zip codes.

Unfortunately, according to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, just 12 percent of D.C. public school eighth-graders tested "proficient" in reading and 8 percent tested "proficient" in math. Current statistics show that among all D.C. public school students who enter ninth grade, less than 3 percent will graduate from college.

It will take transformational, not incremental, change to turn around our schools. Chancellor Rhee is on the right track.

-- Andrew Simon

Washington

The writer co-founded the group DC School Reform Now.