Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Michelle Rhee and Education
This discussion with the impressive Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, has a lot to recommend it. Rhee is a remarkable figure, engaged, focused on quality in education, confident but without attitude. She is doing enormous good in DC public schools but her skills probably would be put to better use running the Department of Education.
Rhee dismissed what she called “front end” qualifications — resumes, titles and degrees. She opted for value — how good a teacher was, how well they did their job. Sounds obvious, but as in previous posts about expertise, ( post 1, post 2 ), it is a true paradigm shift to force gatekeepers to look at what is in front of them, and thereby be responsible for their choices, rather than go with a “me-too” approach — the classic formula for bureaucratic mediocrity.