For those following the intra-Democratic Party debates about education reform in D.C., an interesting pair of articles appeared in the Washington Post over the past three days. First, on Saturday, columnist Colbert King called for a reality check, asking of lightning rod D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, "Beyond publicity, what is Rhee producing?" It's a fair question. With the Washington Teachers' Union refusing to approve Rhee's proposed contract, there's very little progress getting made on key reforms, such as the new teacher training program reporter Bill Turque writes about today. Rhee's contract would allow teachers to opt-into a private-sector funded pilot program in which they'd give up tenure in exchange for aggressive merit pay. Teachers, especially longtime veterans, are skeptical. And because those private sector reform dollars are dependent on the contract's approval, the D.C. schools are in a stalemate. As King writes, "Remember the old African proverb: 'When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.' If a Rhee-union war paralyzes the school system, children may be the ones who suffer."
That said, the skeletons of a common ground approach appear to be in place, even as squabbling over details continues. The American Federation of Teachers, the national union that includes the Washington Teachers' Union, is on the record as supporting teacher mentorship programs that use senior teachers to build new teachers' skills and counsel bad teachers out of the profession. Following the example of Maryland's high-performing Montgomery County school system, Rhee is actually planning to enroll D.C. teachers in exactly such a program. The WTU is pushing back, however, because Rhee doesn't just want to provide the training, she wants to place hundreds -- maybe even thousands -- of D.C.'s 4,000 teachers on 90-day probation prior to them entering the program. The Montgomery County program, by the way, is a partnership between the district and its teachers' union. It is a model of cooperation that, sadly, isn't being followed here in D.C.
Education reform in Washington remains a fight well worth watching. The economic crisis raises a new set of questions about whether Rhee's private sector contributors can still be relied upon to make short and long term commitments to the District's schools. If those organizations pull out, some serious questions would be raised about the sustainability of relying on private reform groups for public school funding.
--Dana Goldstein
