Reform?

Out of her big city chancellor job, Michelle Rhee has taken her talents to New York City. Since 2010, she and former chancellor of New York City Public Schools, Joel Klein, have joined forces in spearheading StudentsFirstNY. StudentsFirstNY is a school reform movement that promotes charter schools, resists tenure, and aims to rid New York City’s public schools of “ineffective” teachers. According to a New York Times Article, the two “have formed a statewide political group in New York with an eye toward being a counterweight to the powerful teachers’ union in the 2013 mayoral election.” Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the current mayor of New York City, is an advocate of school reform, but will most likely be replaced by a candidate with different views on education and teacher unions in the upcoming election. Both Rhee and Klein are notorious for going head-to-head with unions and are strong opponents of tenure. Thus, the two, in addition to a board of big name reformists, are pushing to bring StudentsFirstNY to the forefront of the reform discussion before 2013.

If you can recall, Michelle Rhee resigned from her position as chancellor of DC schools at the end of 2010. Initially installed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, Rhee was given absolute control over the district’s public schools. During her time as chancellor, Rhee fired hundred of teachers and shut down plenty of schools due to lack of student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Rhee even adopted an evaluation system in which student test scores accounted for half of a teacher’s evaluation. It is no wonder why dozens of DC schools are now under investigation for cheating under Rhee’s term as chancellor.

While I am not completely at odds with the StudentsFirst reform philosophy, there are some aspects that truly concern me. Research shows that most charter schools have little to no effect of student achievement. Why aren’t these resources being poured into public schools? Furthermore, until standardized tests measure growth instead of mastery of what are supposed to be grade-appropriate skills, there is no way that test scores should determine if a teacher is ineffective or not. Lastly, as an educator and member of a union, I am a supporter of teacher unions and tenure as they provide valuable benefits to the profession. Neither should be used as a scapegoat for the problems our education system is facing. So while I can appreciate Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein’s radical reform ideologies, I am not sure of how the StudentsFirstNY movement will work to academically enrich our children.