Blog
A teacher’s plea for more capable school leaders
Five or six years ago, when he was still in office, President George Bush put forth a challenge — for individuals that had worked in the business sector to instead become teachers. It immediately struck a note with me. While it took me a couple of years to find the right exit point from my career in the computer industry, in the spring of 2008 I answered his call to action, left my job of 30 years, and became a teacher. Read More»
Look who’s reacting to the StudentsFirst agenda
What do five big city mayors and comedian Bill Cosby have in common? They all say enough is enough, it’s time for a movement like StudentsFirst. Well, that’s us summarizing, but you can check out what they’ve said in their own words. And see who else is standing up to put students first. Read More»
StudentsFirst partners with New Jersey
StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee joined Governor Chris Christie at his State of the State Address as he announced education as a top priority and promised to rescue 100,000 New Jersey students from 200 failing schools. Read More»
Michelle Rhee publishes Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal
To promote the release of our new Policy Agenda, Michelle Rhee wrote an Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal. The budget crises in many of our states bring education reform into sharp focus this winter. With 28 new governors and 10 big mayoral races, there will be lots of talk and, with your help, lots of positive action. Read More»
America’s education system is broken. Today we release our plan to begin fixing it.
There’s a lot of talk about what exactly we need to do to fix our schools. Real change requires more than talk. We all have to open our eyes and challenge an education system that has become, bit by bit, a bureaucracy about adults. We absolutely must look at education through a new prism. We must put students first. Read More»
StudentsFirst partners with Gov. Rick Scott to reform schools in Florida
StudentsFirst will engage on the ground in many states and regions, but we put our first stake down in Florida yesterday. I announced with Governor Rick Scott that we will help his new administration push a bold package of education reforms. Read More»
Five things teachers should ask principals before choosing a workplace
As we have entered the era of accountability in education at no point has it been more important to discuss the interdependence of the principal and teacher as it relates to student achievement. Rudyard Kipling put it best in The Jungle Book when he described the relationship between the wolf and the pack in the following way: “For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.” Read More»
Education reformers made bold strides in 2010, but what’s next for 2011?
In almost 20 years of working in education, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering why this subject was not the most important topic in America — in debate, budgeting and city planning, the voting booth... Somehow it always fell near the bottom of the list. Just three years ago, when I held one of the first press conferences for the D.C. Public Schools, a reporter explained the low press interest with the argument that education didn’t make the front page, sell newspapers, or drive TV ratings up. Read More»
Teachers speak about tenure and the need for accountability in their schools
Teachers have shared stories about loving their profession, and believing in their students. But some wrote us to say that they think the system is failing kids. Today we highlight the stories of two of these teachers, to help put the conversation about teacher tenure in a real-world context. Read More»
Eric Bethel on IMPACT
Eric Bethel was a fifth grade teacher in the DC Public Schools when the new IMPACT teacher evaluation system was introduced last year, a system that rewards the highest performing teachers with bonuses and faster track promotions and removes low performing teachers from the system. Read More»
