The children of DC deserved better and the poor performance would not happen on her watch. Rhee loved her job.

The hardest job is to be an effective teacher. In three years her class went from 13% kids proficient in reading and math to 90%.

Biggest myth: weren’t enough teachers who want to teach in tough areas. Real problem: how the school district operated, meaning best candidates never got hired.

When DC schools were taken over by the mayor, Rhee was asked to take the chancellor job. She said no several times, but the mayor willing to sacrifice his whole career convinced her to take the job.

In DC almost everything was broken. Kids started off in Kindergarten ok, but the longer they stayed in the schools, the worse they got. Huge level of disfunction in this district.

Core focus: human capital. The way we can have most impact was to have a teacher in front of every class and a principal at every school.

Try to create a culture that thought about every child and family as our own.

Wanted teachers:

  • who have snap – classroom awareness, magical performance
  • Value-add – kids are growing, educators accountable for kids performance

Much rather deal with anger than apathy.

Do I need to do a revolution or an incremental strategy?

  • Not an incremental girl…could make change fast enough.
  • Never heard a parent in the district say, “you’re moving too fast”

The education agenda has been driven by special interest groups. There is no group advocating for kids, she started an organization called Students First, a movement of ordinary people bringing to bear influence.