Michelle Rhee

Front 1

Polarity: state of having two opposite or contradictory opinions or aspects

Back 1

Polarity; Michelle Rhee, a prominent media figure and leader for educational reform with leadership skills in DCPS diametrically opposed the leadership skills needed for positive sustainable change.

Front 2

My thesis: most important leadership skills to have is cultural awareness and understanding to affect positive change

Back 2

She was an ineffective leader who was not any different than the ineffective teachers she dismissed.

Front 3

Michelle Rhee. She became Chancellor of DCPS from 2007 to 2010. When she came into office as chancellor she had the power, political backing, and funding to make changes to the system. But her lack of leadership skills created confusion and fear.

Back 3

, buildings fall into disrepair with visible signs of vacancy having boarded windows and doors. Psychologically, the community experiences a hoarding mentality by trying to keep remaining buildings and businesses intact in effort to survive as a community.

Front 4

the prevailing cultural perception of DCPS was that student achievement was determined by race and socioeconomic status.

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One elementary school displayed a sign at the front entrance stating, “There is nothing a teacher can do to overcome what a parent and student will not do” (Whitmire, 2011, p. 80). This prevailing school climate followed students all the way through high school. Students at Dunbar High School were allowed to hang out in the hallways during class time without consequence. Classroom doors remained open to allow students to come and go as they pleased. During the school day, the football bleachers seated more students than the classrooms.

Front 5

Instead of using research and data to influence this cultural climate, Rhee chose to make immediate and substantial changes to staff. She cut over one hundred jobs in the central office, dismissed a quarter of all principals, and cut fifty-seven teachers and seventy-seven support staff

Back 5

she publicly stated, “I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed seventy-eight days of school (Whitmire, 2011, p. 120). This broad statement of errant teacher behavior was unfounded and created confusion and shock throughout the community.

Front 6

Mohummad (2009) states that hanging cultural beliefs cannot be forced and are only achieved through cooperation, patience, encouragement and understanding the schools’ history and setting a goal for the future.

Back 6

Jonathan Mills compared three-year data reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress Test. He compared low income and minority students in Boston, New York City, and Houston, and found that students in DCPS scored substantially lower than their socio-economic counterparts (Whitmire, 2011).

Front 7

Joel Klein, Chancellor of New York City Schools, announced similar findings when he compared test scores of low-income, black students in Washington D.C, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

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Closing a school is never a popular choice. In areas of high poverty, schools representepresent safety, security, and a connection to the past

Front 8

For example, P. R. Harris Education Center in Anacostia served pre-K through eighth grade. In 2007, only one in five students read on grade level. However, despite the school’s low performance, parents felt that Harris was a great school and had wonderful teachers because the children felt safe ther

Back 8

Draper Elementary School had a student population of one hundred students. Of those one hundred students, only fifty percent of the students could read on grade level. Only one fifth of the students were proficient in math. The principal had been there for over thirty years and he represented security to the families in the neighborhood

Front 9

Her school closure plan was based on under enrollment and excess square footage. (Labbé, 2007). H

Back 9

Be truthful and listen to the people.” “I don’t care where you come from, you don’t understand how important this school is…” or “You don’t understand our kids or our schools.” (Whitmire, 2011, p.93).

Front 10

Whitmire (2011) re-iterates this climate and described Rhee as tight lipped and unmoving as parents yelled comments such as,

Back 10

She had the knowledge, resources and political backing to develop policies to effectively improve student learning and increase standardized test scores in the lowest performing school district in the country. But, instead of working within the community to change prevailing cultural misunderstandings, she took shortcuts.

Front 11

Her shortcuts demonstrated her lack of cultural awareness and understanding of DCPS and limited her ability to affect positive sustainable change in DCPS to improve teaching and learning.

Back 11

P. R. Harris Education Center in Anacostia served pre-K through eighth grade. In 2007, only one in five students read on grade level. However, despite the school’s low performance, parents felt that Harris was a great school and had wonderful teachers because the children felt safe there

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