FOLLOW-UP REPORT: Mackinac Policy Conference 2013 (Keynoter: Michelle Rhee)

Education Group Casts Doubt on Value of Michelle Rhee's School Reforms

The conventional wisdom is that former D.C. Schools Chancellor and current national education reformer Michelle Rhee brought much-needed positive change to the D.C. public school system during her tenure, firing ineffective teachers, closing under-performing schools and more aggressively pushing students and teachers to perform better. But a new report from an education advocacy group says much the opposite, arguing that Rhee-type reform in D.C. and in two other cities haven't really improved educational outcomes.

The report from the Brighter, Bolder Approach to Education says that the reform ushered in by Rhee from 2007 to 2010 and continued by Chancellor Kaya Henderson "deliver few benefits, often harm the students they purport to help, and divert attention from a set of other, less visible policies with more promise to weaken the link between poverty and low educational attainment."

It says that test scores rose less quickly in D.C., Chicago and New York than in cities that did not adopt the reforms pushed by Rhee and other like-minded education leaders, and that achievement gaps grew more quickly in those that did. Test-based teacher evaluations increased turnover, closing schools did not produce better outcomes and market-based approaches like school choice drew attention and resources away from other more effective initiatives.

All told, says the report, the reforms ushered in by Rhee and others failed most dramatically because they ignored the effect of poverty on student achievement.

"Clearly child poverty has been a significant factor contributing to low student test scores and graduation rates in these three cities. Failing to provide supports that alleviate impediments posed by poverty ensures continued low student test scores and graduation rates, and large gaps between average test scores of white and affluent students and test scores of minority and low-income students," it says. (Rhee was famous for saying the poverty was all too often used as an excuse to explain away low performance.)

Many of these complaints aren't new. Various other groups have pointed out that D.C. test scores haven't increased appreciably over the years, and in many cases have produced such pressure that teachers and administrators have resorted to cheating. (Atlanta is embroiled in a large cheating scandal, while allegations of cheating have surfaced in D.C. but are said to be less extensive.)

Additionally, Henderson recently changed the way D.C. evaluates its teachers by lessening the reliance on test scores. Also, critics of charters say that they don't all produce better outcomes for students, and instead draw money away from traditional public schools.

The report says that school districts should focus on more holistic reforms, including those that address conditions outside the schoolhouse and how they may affect student performance.