D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee seems to be dominating the media these days, and she’s making headlines again this week, gracing the cover of TIME Magazine.

While there’s nothing glamorous about firing nearly 300 teachers and principals, Rhee has made more changes within DCPS in one year than most could even dream about over several decades. She’s not your typical cover girl, as TIME points out. She’s been called a “nightmare” but Chancellor Rhee seems okay with that. “Have I rubbed people the wrong way? Definitely. If I changed my style, I might make people a little more comfortable… but I think there’s real danger in acting in a way that makes adults feel better.”

A piece in today’s Washington Post shows that this new style can work, but with folks like AFT boss Randi Weingarten highly critical of this new trend, it is unlikely to catch on without bold leadership from our elected officials.

While the media are paying attention to the now infamous presidential battleground state of Ohio, maybe they can spend a few minutes on the continued and outrageous opposition of that state’s Governor to charter schools, an issue that our POTUS candidates allegedly agree on (though we have some doubts).

Governor Ted Strickland fought hard two years ago to abolish all school choices from the state’s budget. He was overwhelmingly defeated by tens of thousands of people across the state rallying to retain the precious right to direct their own children’s education. Strickland hid behind what he considered gross failures among choice and charter schools - meanwhile, the legislature had already enacted legislation that guaranteed charter school closures when those schools failed to meet state targets three years in a row. Such a standard has never been in place for regular public schools, nor is NCLB working in that state to close chronically failing schools.

But how does Governor Strickland’s attack of charters again this week square with the Obama campaign?

More “Battleground”

An Open Letter to Greg Toppo (USA TODAY)
October 16, 2008

Dear Greg,

A huge round of applause to you for covering the education views of the prospective next POTUS.  Your coverage of education is almost always on point with a keen distinction between rhetoric and reality.  This is why CER once gave you an award for excellence in journalism and has been an avid fan. 

But on your candidate coverage this week, it seems you confuse what the candidates believe with what others expect each candidate to believe and hence, there are a couple of phrases which seem loaded in one direction and not another.  In the interest of fairness, I’d like to point these assumptions out.

More “Not So Fast”