Reforming D.C.'s Public Schools

I was impressed with Michelle A. Rhee's Feb. 9 op-ed column, "The Toughest Job," on the value of teachers. I have lived in the District for 15 years, and it is a relief to see the progress she has been making with our chronically underperforming schools.

There is no question that education is the cornerstone of individual and community prosperity, and good teaching for every child is behind it. The health of the city depends on Ms. Rhee's success.

While unions do an excellent job of protecting workers against the whims of bad management, they also tend to resist effective change demanded by good management. Ms. Rhee has demonstrated that she plans to do a better job than the teachers union has done in protecting and advancing good teachers.

Union leaders must take a clear-eyed look at the system of tenure and other failing incentive structures that they are defending and see that Ms. Rhee is charting a course out of this mess.

The union should recognize the chancellor's good management and support her pioneering efforts to give every D.C. classroom a talented, well-compensated and effective teacher.

PETER COLOHAN

Washington

Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is right to focus on improving teacher quality in the District's traditional public schools. But contrary to what has been implied by much of the news coverage of Ms. Rhee's proposed reforms, the D.C. government does not consistently back school reform.

The District's most successful school reform to date was the introduction of public charter schools 12 years ago. Publicly funded, nonselective and independently run, the District's public charter schools educate more than one in three D.C. students.