Turning It Around In D.C.

Russ Mitchell of CBS News took a look at the country’s public education system recently and he discovered that school turnaround isn’t limited to theory. In Washington, D.C., where the school system gets as much money per child as any place in the nation, only half of the students graduate on time.

So the chief of D.C. schools, Michelle Rhee (pictured), is taking a different approach, treating it like a business and holding the educators accountable for failure.

Mitchell points to one particular school — the John Philip Sousa Middle School in the District:

“It was out of control,” Rhee said. “I mean, there were more children in the hallway than in classroom, all the kids had hoods on, had their earphones in, swearing at teachers.”

Rhee removed the former principal and installed Dwan Jordon. They fired 11 of 31 teachers, instituted school uniforms and Saturday school. Last year’s test scores were up double-digits: 25 percent in math, 17 percent in reading.

“The kids love the school; they love being here,” Jordan said. “Today our attendance rate is 98 percent.”

Rhee says Sousa is the model but adds too many principals are not willing to change the status quo. “They are, as a group, incredibly conflict-averse,” Rhee said. “They just don’t want people to yell at them.”

Take a look at the story here:

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And the rest of the charter roundup:

Calif. — L.A. could learn a lot about charter schools from the Big Apple (L.A. Times)
Calif. — LAUSD reform is a bitter battle (L.A. Daily News)
Calif. — Schools: Chartering a new course (Santa Clarita Signal)
D.C. — Union officials are disturbingly inflexible toward charter schools (Washington Post)
Mass. — Charter schools start recruiting drive (Boston Globe)
N.Y. — Harlem’s Promise Academy students enjoy hot, healthy lunch… at a cost (N.Y. Daily News)
N.Y. — As city’s charters expand, state remains deadlocked (New York Times)
N.Y. — Senate deserves fault for failure to pass charter-school deal (Westchester Journal News)
S.D. — SD bill allowing pilot charter school moves ahead (Native American Times)
Texas — Failure is an option (Houston Chronicle)
Texas — Nonprofit pushes education leadership jobs (Houston Chronicle)
Va. — Va.‘s laws on charter schools could ease (Richmond Times Dispatch)