Independent evaluation of school reform begins
By Bill Turque
The Washington Post
The four principal figures in D.C. school reform were on their best behavior Monday when they visited with the National Research Council (NRC) committee that will conduct an independent evaluation of their efforts.
The rare joint appearance by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, State Superintendent of Education Kerri L. Briggs and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso was part of an inaugural public meeting for the 13-member panel.
The evaluation is required by the 2007 law that gave …

Open Letter to President Obama, Secretary Duncan, and Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives:
The 2010 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization process comes on the heels of an intense year of federal, state, and local education action spurred by President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative. Like No Child Left Behind (NCLB i.e., ESEA reauthorization 2002), Race to the Top has generated controversy proportionate to the major changes it has ignited in state and local educations policies.
We the undersigned believe that even though neither is perfect, …

The Obama administration gave a major lift Thursday to the reform agenda of Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and D.C. charter school leaders, announcing that the District had joined 15 states as finalists in an unprecedented $4 billion contest for federal aid.

The District beat out 25 states, including Virginia, with a proposal to “drastically reduce” the number of low-achieving schools, increase standardized test scores by five percentage points a year, and raise graduation and college enrollment rates. …

Sitting on the desk of the secretary of education are dozens of ideas bold enough to finally start solving our country’s education crisis. They are contained in applications by 40 states and the District of Columbia for grants from the Race to the Top fund, a $4.35 billion piece of the stimulus package designed to dramatically improve student achievement.

Congress established strong guidelines to guarantee that states spend Race to the Top money on audacious reforms. Many states responded with equal fortitude, submitting proposals to radically improve how they use data or to adopt college- and career-ready standards — concepts that used to be considered third rails in the world of education. Never before has this country had such an opportunity to remake the way we teach young people…

School reformers generally agree that the most important education resource is the teacher. But one of the biggest obstacles to putting a good instructor in every classroom is a tenure system that forces principals to hire and retain teachers based on seniority instead of performance.

California grants tenure to teachers after merely two years in the classroom. New York, like most other states, makes teachers wait a grand total of three years before giving them a job for life. In most cases tenure is granted automatically unless administrators object, which is rare.

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times revealed…

District schools make significant strides in math achievement
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 10:00 AM
DC school scores improving while most cities lag
National report card shows little gains in most cities.
Mathematics achievement has surged in D.C. public schools over the past six years, the federal government reported Tuesday morning, and the city schools no longer rank last in math among major urban systems.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress found the D.C school system was the only one of 11 studied in 2007 and 2009 to make …

Court defends Rhee’s layoffs – By Bill Turque – Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
AGE WAS MOTIVE, UNION CLAIMED
Budget cut necessitated action eventually, judge says
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Tuesday upheld Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s decision to lay off 266 public school teachers and other educators to close a budget gap, flatly rejecting union arguments that she contrived financial problems to rid the system of older instructors.
Judge Judith Bartnoff ruled that the Washington Teachers’ Union failed to prove any of its core contentions in challenging the …

Major changes at 2 troubled D.C. schools – by Jay Mathews
Monday, October 26, 2009
After days of frantic blogging on the latest D.C. schools crisis and trading speculation with interested readers, I find it refreshing to visit three educators who are making major changes in two of the city’s lowest-performing high schools. Unlike me and many of the people I exchange comments with, they know what they are talking about.
George Leonard, 57, chief executive officer of the Friends of Bedford group from New York; Chief Financial Officer Bevon Thompson, 35; and …