Dear Commons Community, Michelle Rhee confirmed The Huffington Post’s Tuesday article about her departure from StudentsFirst in a blog post on the group’s website, as well as in a statement to the Sacramento Bee, late Wednesday. Rhee did not provide … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and author, has a must-read essay on Michelle Rhee  in the New Republic that exposes her essentially as a self-promoter who simplifies education reform to abolishing teacher … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, A group called New Yorkers for Great Public Schools (NYGPS) released a report Friday called “Rhee-ality Check” that calls into question Michelle Rhee’s success. It mostly relies on news clippings to assert that Rhee’s StudentsFirst reform advocacy … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, Michelle Rhee’s lobbying group StudentsFirst has issued its first report ranking the  states based on how closely they follow the group’s platform, looking at policies related not only to tenure and evaluations but also to pensions and … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, The Huffington Post is reporting that top Democratic party officials are abandoning Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst lobbying organization.  Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C. school chancellor, has danced a tricky tango since starting her national advocacy and lobbying … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, In the past week, there have been several showdowns between two controversial school reform advocates, Diane Ravitch and Michelle Rhee. The New York Times reported on its Schoolbook blog that WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show “…aired interviews with … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, A New York Times article opens with the question:   What was Arne Duncan doing sharing the stage with Michelle Rhee at a recent education conference?  On the surface, this seems not to be a problem except for … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, Last week I commented on this blog the coverage of New York Magazine’s featured article on Michelle Rhee’s plan to develop an “interest group” named StudentsFirst modeled on the National Rifle Association.  The “interests” of her group … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, New York Magazine’s featured article this week is a look at Michelle Rhee’s plan to develop an “interest group” named StudentsFirst modeled on the National Rifle Association.  She hopes to raise $1 billion from mostly well-heeled donors … Continue reading →

Dear Commons Community, Less than a minute into Bryce Dershem’s valedictorian speech (see video above) on June 17, the microphone cut out. He had just told the audience at his New Jersey high school’s graduation ceremony that he came out … Continue reading →