Former elementary school teacher Michelle Rhee has devoted her entire professional life to bettering US schools. (Photo credit: Creative Commons)
Former elementary school teacher Michelle Rhee has devoted her entire professional life to bettering US schools. From her own experiences in the classroom, both as a student and as a teacher, and then through establishing and running nonprofits devoted to school improvement, to serving as the Chancellor of Washington, DC, schools, Michelle has dedicated herself to making changes in schools that would create positive results for kids.
Michelle was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of immigrants from South Korea. Her father was a doctor and her mother owned a clothing store. When Michelle was a young girl, the Rhee family lived in Toledo, Ohio. Following her graduation from Maumee Valley Country Day School in 1988, Michelle enrolled at Cornell University, where in 1992 she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Government. Later, she earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1997.
In her senior year in college, Michelle signed up for the Teach for America program. After completing a five-week summer program, she accepted a position as a teacher at Harlem Park Elementary, an inner-city school located in Baltimore, Maryland. Her first year as a teacher was rough, Michelle has admitted. Determined to improve her professional skills, Michelle completed summer school courses and earned her teaching credential before returning to the classroom for her second year of teaching.
In 1997, Michelle left the classroom and founded The New Teacher Project (TNTP). TNTP was a nonprofit organization designed to improve the methods schools use to recruit, select, and train teachers in schools described as difficult to staff. In 2007, Michelle made another career move. She accepted a position as the Chancellor of Schools in Washington, DC. At the time, the district more than 47,000 students were enrolled in 123 schools throughout the district. During her years there, DC experienced double-digit growth in both their state reading and state math scores in seventh, eighth and tenth grades. She served as the Chancellor until 2010, when she stepped down to establish Students First, an organization devoted to education reform.
For her work as an educator and administrator, Michelle has earned national recognition. She has served on the advisory boards for both the National Council on Teacher Quality and the National Center for Alternative Certification. In addition, she was invited by former First Lady Laura Bush to be a special guest at the State of the Union address of President George W. Bush State in 2008.
To learn more about Michelle Rhee, click on this link to her biography on the website for Students First.
