Schools are not just “businesses”.  While testing has its place, it is by no means a complete or accurate measure of the progress of children’s education.  Here is a comment from the Washington Post website regarding the firing on July 23 (again) of 226 teachers by Ms. Rhee deemed “ineffective”, with a whopping 737 more teachers rated “minimally effective”.

I wonder if every teacher in the District doesn't deserve a well motivated, well behaved, student body, with strong support from their home environment.
Without those things, Ms. Rhee's evaluation system is meaningless.
The school system has descended into extreme political correctness, ill conceived business models, and the use of D.C. teachers as the fall guy of last resort.

As long as a large majority of DC youth are growing up without both parents in the home, or even one parent in the home (some 25 per cent of all DC youth), then there are going to be major problems.  Are these factors considered in Ms. Rhee’s evaluation scheme?  I would challenge Ms. Rhee herself to come and teach some of the unruly high school classrooms that I have seen myself during the course of my work with ULTRA Teen Choice.  A successful approach to helping our youth must be holistic, especially in working with parents, as well as the community. 

Having more homes with both parents present will drastically improve the learning environment in DC Public Schools.  Character-based sexual health education is the right place to start this;  youth should be advised and encouraged to abstain from sex before marriage.

Teachers are actually in a similar position to parents within the school environment.  And when you are dealing with “family”, decisions cannot just be made based on a (flawed) business model.  Concern for the children, those teaching the children, and parents should be at the forefront of our school system.  Ms. Rhee fails to show true concern for all three of these groups.