Rhee moves to bust D.C. teachers union

Egged on by her patrons in the Broad Foundation, D.C. super-supe, Michelle Rhee has moved ahead with her plan to void the contract and bust the Washington Teachers Union.

Her so-called Plan B will be used to fire teachers based solely on their students’ test scores, in violation of existing collective bargaining agreements. Unions, urban Mayors, the powerhouse foundations and school boards across the nation will be watching closely to see if Plan B succeeds.

WTU President George Parker tells WaPo:

"You cannot fire your way to a successful school district. It will not happen," said Parker, who added that the union would take whatever steps necessary to protect its members, including "court proceedings, arbitration and teacher job actions."

White House goes "progressive" on private schools

When it comes to private and Catholic schools, the White House has suddenly become downright progressive, reminding us that standardized test scores "aren’t all that matters."

"Standardized assessments, however, are not the only way to measure school effectiveness. Faith-based urban schools and those who support them may consider a number of other avenues for evaluating and promoting excellence. For instance, the sector might develop broader indicators of school success (i.e., industry standards), including school safety measures, parental satisfaction figures, graduation rates, data on teacher quality, and class size information. "

JPacker comments at North Dakota Study Group, “Nice to see the White House acknowledge what we have been saying for several years!! They even admit class size is an important indicator! Maybe this should also apply to public schools!?

Young teacher asks, “Why no news about Chicago teacher cuts?”

The students in my school are forced to suffer enough losses already, and now they must lose their teachers a month into the school year. The worst part about all of these cuts is how it seems to be kept hushed around Chicago. How is it that after more than 200 teachers lose their jobs (17 at one school), there is not a single news story about it? Shouldn't the current education crisis of our nation be as important, if not more important, than the economic crisis? Why is it that the private lives of our nation's leaders dominate headlines, but not the dysfunction of our public schools?

Chicago TFA teacher Angela Lang posting at the Duke Chronicle.

(HT Russo)