9.10.2008

more on d.c. schools chief michelle rhee

From CNN, here's another profile on Michelle Rhee, the controversial chancellor of the District of Columbia's public schools, and her crazy plan to shake it all up: '100 mph' school chief seeks 'radical changes'.

When she was appointed to the job last year, she was faced with the task of turning around one of the nation's lowest-performing school districts... and made some radical moves. In her first year, she closed 23 schools, fired 36 principals and cut 15 percent—about 121 jobs—from the central staff.

And of course, there's her most controversial program, a joint venture between D.C. schools and Harvard that pays middle school students cash—up to $100 a month—for good behavior and attendance. We're not talking "money" to be redeemed at the school snack shack. It's cash money!

Desperate times call for drastic measures. When all is said and done, she'll be hailed as an educational visionary, and savior to DC's schools... or she'll be reviled as a crazy with a crazy plan that shook things up just a little too much. I guess only time will tell if her gamble pays off.

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