Michelle Rhee's group gave D and F grades to most states in this country for their school policies. [View all]

[madfloridian]

First may I say that I would not trust this group to judge education in all the states. Well, they call it judging education "policy", but basically it does judge those states by Michelle Rhee's criteria of education reform.

Just picture this Students First group's credibility after watching this ad against public education in America which aired during the Olympics.

Michelle Rhee's group defends offensive ad that targets schools and overweight people.

How much credibility can you possibly give to a group that defends ridiculing teachers and public education during the Olympics on TV.

Here is the ranking and grades of the states given by Michelle Rhee's group Students First.

Report Card by Students First

43 Alabama F 0.67
39 Alaska D- 0.75
8 Arizona C- 1.85
26 Arkansas D 1.15
41 California F 0.69
9 Colorado C- 1.83
18 Connecticut D+ 1.35
11 Delaware C- 1.75
4 District of Columbia C+ 2.40
2 Florida B- 2.73
15 Georgia D+ 1.42
7 Hawaii C- 1.88
40 Idaho D- 0.71
29 Illinois D 1.13
3 Indiana C+ 2.46
45 Iowa F 0.58
36 Kansas D- 0.83
35 Kentucky D- 0.88
1 Louisiana B- 2.88
21 Maine D 1.23
17 Maryland D+ 1.38
14 Massachusetts D+ 1.54
6 Michigan C- 1.94
26 Minnesota D 1.15
32 Mississippi D 1.00
34 Missouri D- 0.94
48 Montana F 0.44
48 Nebraska F 0.44
21 Nevada D 1.23
41 New Hampshire F 0.69
21 New Jersey D 1.23
26 New Mexico D 1.15
21 New York D 1.23
32 North Carolina D 1.00
51 North Dakota F 0.40
10 Ohio C- 1.77
13 Oklahoma D+ 1.58
37 Oregon D- 0.81
19 Pennsylvania D+ 1.33
5 Rhode Island C+ 2.33
30 South Carolina D 1.02
44 South Dakota F 0.60
11 Tennessee C- 1.75
30 Texas D 1.02
25 Utah D 1.21
46 Vermont F 0.48
38 Virginia D- 0.77
16 Washington D+ 1.40
48 West Virginia F 0.44
20 Wisconsin D+ 1.31
46 Wyoming F 0.48

There is also a map.

Report Card Students First

The Baltimore Sun has an article about this. I think they should have been stronger in their opposition to such a biased group grading all the states.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bal-michelle-rhees-organization-gives-maryland-reform-a-d-20130107,0,6349395.story?track=rss

Michelle Rhee's education group gives Maryland a D.

A controversial set of national report cards issued this week by StudentsFirst--the advocacy and lobbying organization started by former Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee-- gave Maryland's educational policies and reforms a grade of D+ in a state-by-state analysis.

The report cards were issued in an interactive map on the StudentsFirst website. The organization analyzed three key areas, and several sub-groups, assessing states' ability to 1.) empower parents, 2.) elevate teachers, and 3.) spend wisely and govern well.

Maryland received an overall grade of D or D+ in those three umbrella categories. You can see the state's full report card by clicking here.

The categories reflect and encompass several policy approaches championed by Rhee and that align with the StudentsFirst organization's platform. The organization issued Rhee's old stomping ground, Washington D.C., a grade of C+. The highest grades of B- were issued to Louisiana to Florida.

To paraphrase:

By "empowering" parents they put the blame only on teachers. Parents and students off scott free. By "elevating" teachers they mean tying their pay and job security on how the students score on a multiple choice test. By "spending wisely and governing well" they mean merit pay and getting rid of continuing contracts given after 3 to 5 years to good teacher. In other words making sure that other states like Florida no longer offer tenure to teachers.

These are the policies of our national Department of Education.

People like Michelle Rhee get away with it because it IS policy. And because no one wants anyone else to be critical of that policy.

And that's a shame.