I wish I had known about this before the Chicago Teachers Union suspended their strike and returned to work, but it may shed some light on the timing of the suspension. At the least, it provides a little more context for what teachers unions have to deal with on the ground. Apparently the above anti-union [...]

The Democratic platform on education includes the passage, “We Democrats honor our nation’s teachers, who do a heroic job for their students every day. If we want high-quality education for all our kids, we must listen to the people who are on the front lines.” However, it’s also perhaps the first education platform plank that [...]

Michelle Rhee has doubled back on her earlier smug dismissal of a very damaging story in USA Today about cheating on standardized tests in the DC public schools. Now she says that her initial reaction was stupid, that cheating may have occurred on the tests and that her successor should order an investigation, which she [...]

If the world were as based on merit as Michelle Rhee and her cadres like to say they want to construct schools to operate, she would have no credibility left, and wouldn’t be able to reach by phone any of her rich friends bankrolling her reform agenda. Rhee responded to the serious allegations in USA [...]

Michelle Rhee, the former DC schools chief, has a perception of being results-oriented. She doesn’t have personal animus toward teacher’s unions, she just feels that the best way to improve learning for students is to engage in policies that allow her to elevate the best teachers and fire the worst. The rights of the student [...]