Leadership Strategies: Analysis of Michelle Rhee's Educational Reforms

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Michelle Rhee's leadership and her impact on the Washington DC public school system. It explores her strategies for educational reform, including her Frontline approach, the implementation of the DC Comprehensive Assessment System, and her efforts to address issues such as school bureaucracy and teacher performance. The report highlights her successes in improving student test scores and transforming the school environment, as well as the challenges she faced, such as opposition from parents and the need to address the issue of teacher incompetence. It examines her leadership style, the steps she took to bring about change, and the overall impact of her reforms on the education system in Washington DC. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of a well-defined strategy and effective leadership in achieving educational goals and improving the lives of students.

Running head: Leadership
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Education and Leadership style of Michelle Rhee.......................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
The report talks about Michelle Rhee, who followed great leadership strategies to bring the
revolution in the society. The report shows her Frontline approach towards education system of
Washing DC schools. The report shows her approach in promoting education system. It suggests
the steps one should take to achieve the aim and objectives. The report primarily focuses on that
Michelle Rhee is able to change the worst schools in the best schools. The report mentions the
steps taken by Rhee to transform the society.
Education and Leadership style of Michelle Rhee
1. Michelle Rhee is known for forming a good leadership style. She works for the betterment of
student’s future. She is the one who was responsible for bringing the change in the Education
system. She has set an example by solving the problem of the education system in the school of
Washington. She has great leadership quality and attributes. Her strategies are outstanding and
guide to the betterment of the society. In Jan8, 2013, Michelle Rhee was appointed as a new
chancellor of DC public school. She became the leader to bring revolution in the schools of
Washington (Philip, Martinez, Lopez & Garcia, 2016). She had an aggressive plan to reform the
education system which later gave her great success not only in her life but she was also able to
upgrade the education system. In 2007, she went school to school for inception. She found many
issues that should not exist in the school. She was highly disappointed by looking at the
condition of the institutions. There was lack of real opportunities for young people which give
rise to unemployment because students were not guided properly. Her main aim was to change
the worst school system in the best school system (Strom, Sears, & Kelly, 2014).
She began the revolution to promote education by conducting seminars. She started introducing
herself and her plans to the teachers and the students that brought change in the environment of
the education system. She talked about her Frontline style. She decided to transform the
education system. Around 43000 teachers and 3000 children were given New Year class, which
filled excitement in teachers and students. She was given the power to fix DC’s broken schools.
Her goal was to improve the achievement of all students (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer, 2013).
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She conducted the DC’s best known as DC’s Comprehensive Assessment System as a key
measure. She looked at the performance of the students. She met with principles of every school
and introduced them this concept of testing. She suggested the solutions by asking about the
experience they had in school as a principle and what changes they have brought since they
became. For example: in one school she found the noise education campus. The noise was
something which she had to accomplish. Students didn’t listen to teachers and were ill-mannered
which affected the school’s reputation. To overcome this problem in 2014, she introduced a
federal law stating “no child should be left behind”. It states that every child should be proficient
in English and Mathematics (McCleskey, 2014).
2. Schools took time to teach for such tests to the students. The tests identified the problems of
students. They worked on the areas where they had to change the performance. The students are
not in habit of going to the class thus, it is the main problem in the schools. They do not listen to
the teachers. This was the biggest challenge for her to make these students understand. She found
low advancement in kids. The principles of the schools were struggling. The teacher who had to
suffer was Lin Gover who was principal in DC from 15 years (Chingos, Whitehurst & Gallaher,
2015). She helped the school by putting a lot of extra resources. The principal wanted to double
the test scores from 7% to 14%. Rhee also had the problem with schools bureaucracy. There
were no proper textbooks that were needed by the schools. She helped them by providing the
textbooks. She displays the reality of DC’s school in front of the society with the help of media.
This helped them in meeting the demands for providing textbooks that are needed by the schools.
They do not run the schools, they just serve the schools. Michelle faced not good quality controls
in the schools. She did not have the power of incompetence, so she started meeting the
authorities (Whitmire, 2011). At a council meeting, Rhee’s request for getting the power was
accepted. The power is to fire the central office employees who do not work well. Under this
power, she fired 15% of the council member employees (Maranto & Wolf, 2013). Under her
influence, she closed the schools which were not capable of running. She has a proper vision, a
proper strategy, and a proper methodology. She faced difficulty in making people understand the
proposals. She has a positive approach towards education. She has seen many difficulties faced
by her kids in elementary school. Her test scores increased from 18 to 30%. She followed a good
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leadership style. Her strategies brought revolution in the system. The strategy of using test scores
in improving the performance of students is the best. She fired the teachers but it brought a
change in the school environment. Parents first opposed the proposal of changing the education
system, closing down the schools but they supported her when they found great changes in their
children. Michelle Rhee was able to develop the education system in Washington. She planned
the strategies in an appropriate manner. This gives a great success to Michelle Rhee. She was
appreciated by everyone for bringing the very important change in the society (Harner & Rhee,
2014).
Conclusion
The report is based on the education and leadership style of Michelle Rhee. A proper strategy
helps to gain success and growth. The report shows the difficult situations of the leader that are
faced by the leaders in the environment. It is necessary to follow the guidelines set by the leader.
A good leader is one who listens to the opinion of all the members of the team. A good leader
can transform the society from bad influence to good. The report is an excellent example of this
type of approach. Rhee has formulated excellent leadership styles. It explains that how a leader
should manage things and what steps he should take to change the society.
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References
Chingos, M. M., Whitehurst, G. J., & Gallaher, M. R. (2015). School districts and student
achievement. Education Finance and Policy.
Choudhary, A. I., Akhtar, S. A., & Zaheer, A. (2013). Impact of transformational and servant
leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of Business
Ethics, 116(2), 433-440.
Harner, M. M., & Rhee, R. J. (2014). Teaching LLCs Through a Problem-Based Approach.
Maranto, R., & Wolf, P. J. (2013). Cops, teachers, and the art of the impossible: Explaining the
lack of diffusion of innovations that make impossible jobs possible. Public
Administration Review, 73(2), 230-240.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Philip, T. M., Martinez, D. C., Lopez, E., & Garcia, A. (2016). Toward a teacher solidarity lens:
former teachers of color (re) envisioning educational research. Race ethnicity and
education, 19(1), 182-199.
Strom, D. L., Sears, K. L., & Kelly, K. M. (2014). Work engagement: The roles of organizational
justice and leadership style in predicting engagement among employees. Journal of
Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1), 71-82.
Whitmire, R. (2011). The bee eater: Michelle Rhee takes on the nation's worst school district.
John Wiley & Sons.
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