According to
Education Week's District Dossier blog, the news program
Frontlne will air a one-hour documentary on former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, whose legacy, Dossier blogger Lesli A. Maxwell says, is still contentious and polarizing.
Writes Maxwell:
"Under Rhee's watch, District of Columbia schools saw their student test scores rise, while enrollment declined, and the teachers union agreed to a contract that gave her broad authority to fire low-performing teachers. In the two years since her departure, however, concerns about cheating that first arose in a
USA Today investigation, have cast a pall over the rising scores during her tenure. In fact, a report from the U.S. Department of Education's office of inspector general looking into the matter is still to come, Catherine Grant, a spokeswoman for the OIG, confirmed.
"Other signs of progress that quickly emerged during her leadership have also faded: While enrollment in the city's thriving charter school sector continued to increase, the number of families choosing a traditional District of Columbia public school has stagnated the last couple of years, according to news accounts."
The
Frontline one-hour piece is by education reporter John Merrow, who followed Rhee through her three years running D.C. schools. It airs at 10 p.m. EST.
Read more
here.