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In a somewhat contrite letter to Washington, D.C.'s public school teachers, schools chancellor Michelle Rhee has conceded to pushing too hard, too fast on her many reform initiatives. "In our exuberance to fix everything all at once, we’ve thrown so many different programs at you. Please know that this comes from a desire to support you, not inundate you. But I now see that we may have pushed on too many different fronts all at the same time," she writes.Of course, Rhee's most infamous, headline-grabbing pursuit has been her proposal for a merit pay plan that would ask teachers to give up tenure for one year in exchange for large bonuses correlated to student achievement. But now Rhee, seemingly taking a page from the teachers' union handbook, says that merit pay and other reforms should take a back seat to aligning instruction to the District's curriculum standards.
My priority is for you to focus on the content standards and align all of your instruction to them. I promise to provide you with curricular supports, assessments, resources, and training that are all aligned to this priority. It’s going to take some time, but we know we’ve got to do this.The Washington Teachers' Union and its national partner, the American Federation of Teachers, remain unimpressed with Rhee. WTU president George Parker and AFT president Randi Weingarten released a joint statement saying, "Perhaps, instead of choosing to publicly negotiate directly with teachers, she should take the time she's set aside for 'Q&A sessions' and spend it at the bargaining table." The WTU presented Rhee with its counter-proposal for a contract in February, and is hoping to ensure that the merit pay component is not overly based on student test scores.--Dana Goldstein
