Published: 1 years 161 days ago
Sacramento Bee: The more strong voices there are prodding education bureaucracies to
improve results for kids, the better.
That's what makes former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee's new StudentsFirst venture intriguing. Within one year, she aims to create a 1 million-strong membership organization. Within five years she aims to raise $1 billion, some of which would be used to influence local school board and state legislative elections, starting in 2012. Ultimately, she's aiming for 10 million members, with people joining for as little as $5 a month.
Modeled on membership organizations such as AARP, the Sierra Club and the National Rifle Association, Rhee says the StudentsFirst organization launched in Sacramento last week comes out of a couple of things – her experience as D.C. chancellor, with courageous teachers and others telling her that they felt alone in battling the bureaucracy; and from the film, "Waiting for 'Superman,' " which has inspired people to ask her what they can do.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/13/3252466/new-ed-reform-effort-could-have.html#ixzz180ZTbCE9
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