Like everybody who believes in putting students first, I have come to look forward to and count on updates from Michelle Rhee and her advocacy organization Students First. Ms. Rhee provides a valuable service to the education community by holding teachers responsible for the success of their students. We want to be nice and supportive, but test scores have consequences and if a teacher isn't advancing her students, it's time to put someone else in the classroom.
However, since Friday, Students First has been like a ghost town on social media. Michelle Rhee hasn't tweeted, Students First hasn't tweeted or updated their facebook page and Students First cheerleader Tom Greene has made only one post all weekend. I've never seen it like this. If Students First takes the weekend off, who is there to champion accountability?
I like to think that the Students First staff is probably off at a retreat somewhere getting ready to expand. Maybe they've gotten a nice infusion of cash from Jeb Bush or something, but I am getting worried. If you've seen Michelle Rhee please let me know. I do worry.
A little birdie told me that the staff at Students First is learning about laws concerning whistle blowing and how to decide when to take a deal offered by prosecutors. This is all part of their next mission to go out and find those awful teachers who cheated in DC and brought such shame to fearless leader Rhee. They need to be threatened with jail time just like in Atlanta so that no teacher ever cheats again and all just trust the tests to tell the truth about their work.
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