Michelle Rhee takes vow of silence on D.C. cheating

by David Safier

You're in danger of getting injured if you stand between former D.C. Ed Supe Michelle Rhee and a microphone — unless the interviewer wants to talk about the probable cheating on standardized tests which occurred on her watch.

Rhee loves data. Give her test scores to look over, and she's in heaven. But she isn't impressed with the statistical data indicating that the chances of that many erasures on certain D.C. tests having that many answers go from wrong to right is about 1 in 100 billion. Pshaw! Who cares?

Rhee is now the head of the heavily funded group, Students First, pushing for vouchers and charter schools, knocking teachers' unions and tenure. Her claim to fame is the "success" she had raising D.C. test scores by playing hard ball, and winning, with the teachers' unions. Cheating on tests, and studiously overlooking the evidence when it was presented to her, doesn't help her resume.

USA Today wrote an important series of articles on the nationwide scandal of administrators and teachers cheating on standardized tests to raise student scores. Rhee wouldn't talk to them.

She finally relented, saying she would talk if the questions were submitted in advance. The reporter submitted 21 questions. Rhee would only answer 1 of the 11 about cheating.

Rhee is no longer connected with the D.C. schools, but the district's stonewalling on cheating continues. A cursory investigation of the cheating allegations apparently didn't uncover any improprieties. Compare it to the investigation in Atlanta which led to the discovery of major cheating.

In Washington, two investigators spent five days at eight schools. In Atlanta, the state deployed 60 investigators who worked for 10 months at 56 schools. They produced a report that named all 178 people found cheating, including 82 who confessed.

If test scores are important, then cheating to raise test scores is important, and it needs to be investigated. Atlanta realized this. D.C. doesn't. Arizona is even worse. It refuses to lift a finger even though there are clear indications that cheating took place in some schools. (Can you say "Carpe Diem Charter School," boys and girls?)

UPDATE: OK, I'm not really that into Michelle Rhee. She's a semi-dangerous person with tendencies toward lying which border on pathological. But I don't think much about her.

However, for the truly Rhee-obsessed, there's a website, rheefirst.com, with this great header.

h/t to Azazello.