St. Michelle's Tarnished Halo

Is here any reason to trust Michelle Rhee on anything anymore?

The following article by Professor Aaron Pallas explains how the DC state office of the superintendent posts the DC CAS “operational blueprints,” so teachers in the tested grades know in advance which standards will be tested and the number of questions on each of those tested standards.  Thus, by process of elimination, they know which standards can be skipped.  OSSE reportedly opposed this policy, but was pressured by DCPS officials to continue the policy.  The 2010 blueprints were posted in January 2010, rather than at the start of the school year as previously.  That late posting may have contributed to some of the declines last year.

Although some other states post their testing blueprints, the District of Columbia may be unique in notifying teachers in advance that not all standards will be tested and which standards will be tested and, by process of elimination, which to ignore. Teachers of math and reading or English Language Arts in grades 4- 8, for whom 50% of their evaluation is based on their students’ “value-added” test results, have little motivation to teach standards that won’t be tested – even if they are critical elements of the foundation for later, more advanced concepts.”

And another self-satisfied jerk bites the dust.

Hey, big props to rheefirst.com for wallowing in the muck that is St. Michelle's career, so the rest of us don't have to. I always felt like taking shower after writing about her.