The pro-charter groups in Ohio are counting on the services of Michelle Rhee to help them increase charter schools in the state and get rid of qualified, certified, experienced public school teachers. Rhee taught 3 years in Baltimore as part of the Teach for America program. She has no teacher certification and her college degrees are not in education (Wikipedia).
Examiner:
Although she was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michelle Rhee, the firebrand education leader who is focusing her talents and the resources of her new national group on tearing down status quo rules that protect bad teachers at the expense of good ones, spent her wonder years in Ohio. An announcement Tuesday from StudentsFirst, Rhee's new national education advocacy group, says she's headed back to Ohio, where her campaign to save great teachers at the expense of entrenched public sector teacher unons will find a friendly face and a helping hand in Gov. John Kasich....
....Rhee has set up an Ohio Action Center online at StudentsFirst's website. "We're working to pass laws that will give Ohio's schools the power to identify, reward, and retain great educators, and give Ohio parents the choice they deserve to ensure their children receive a great education," she wrote.....
However, Rhee's presence always brings controversy. With investigations into the high amount of erasures on standardized tests, experts questioned the reliability of test scores. An article in the Washington Post had this----
Acting Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson asked the D.C. inspector general Tuesday to investigate reports that sharp gains in some standardized test scores may have been the result of cheating.
She made the request after a USA Today investigation found unusually high rates of erasures in which students apparently corrected their answer sheets for standardized tests between 2008 and 2010.
More than 100 D.C. public schools had the unusual rates of erasures, in which wrong answers were replaced by correct ones. One seventh grade classroom, at Noyes Education Campus in Northeast Washington, averaged 12.7 wrong-to-right erasures per student on the 2009 DC CAS reading test. The citywide average that year was less than one per test.....
Besides the erasures controversy, there are questions about a billionaire's influence in setting education standards, increased push for charters, teacher training, and school operating procedures. Eli Broad is the person backing the "reform" to education. Parent groups are now trying to remove his control over their schools. The Cherrycreeknews has the details.
According to an article in Businessweek, 76% of teachers are women. In attacking public school teachers, Kasich, Christie, Walker, and the rest of the Republican governors are disrespecting the education, accomplishments, and contributions of highly educated females. Do the Republicans want to put women back into the '50's...............the 1850's??????
With Kasich pushing for a 3 year degree program at Ohio State, students are wondering how they can afford to take heavier class loads without an increase in student aid. Kasich has cut student aid. The Republicans in Congress want to eliminate Pell grants. Why are Republicans against aid to education? They want us all to be stupid followers and believe all the b.s. that comes out of their mouths.