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REGION: North America

TOPIC: Education

Online NewsHour

Posted: July 29, 2008

John Merrow Answers Questions

Forum Introduction

		Over the course of the 2007-2008 school year, John Merrow, the NewsHour's special correspondent for education, reported on the challenges faced by two new superintendents in struggling school districts: Michelle Rhee in Washington, D.C., and Paul Vallas in New Orleans.

Do you think it is realistic for anyone to walk into a school district and expect much in only one year?

How do the D.C./New Orleans school systems deal with the families of the at-risk kids to convince them to support the schools?

How many D.C. administrators live in D.C. and send their children to D.C. schools?

What yardsticks is Michele Rhee looking to use in evaluating the performance of her teachers?

Is there an educational project underway to ensure that young students are encountering the best teachers at the elementary level?

Is the student morale in D.C. as low as the teacher morale?

What are Michele Rhee's detractors specifically opposed to?

How can you convince parents who are not readers themselves that reading is important for their children?


	Peter Gough of Linden, Calif., asks:

	How do the D.C./New Orleans school systems deal with the families of the at-risk kids to convince them to support the schools? Or, are they able to assist the students effectively without family support?

John Merrow responds:

Another good question.

Paul Vallas in New Orleans plans to retrain all the school security people and have them out on the street, looking for missing kids, and making home visits to convince parents that their children need to be in school.

I do not know what Michelle Rhee's strategies will be, but we will follow up next year. Both believe that they need to make school a more attractive and appealing place to be, but that message has to get home. A tough challenge.




		June 18, 2008 D.C. Teachers Struggle to Adapt to School Reforms

		June 17, 2008 New Orleans School Reforms Target Young Readers

		April 3, 2008 Leaders Struggle to Bolster New Orleans Schools

		February 8, 2008 New Orleans Schools Chief Aims to Curb Dropout Rate

		February 7, 2008 In Battle to Revamp D.C. Schools, Education Leader Faces Resistance

		November 23, 2007 Schools Chief in New Orleans Faces Tough Road to Rebuilding

		November 19, 2007 D.C. Schools Chief Rhee Faces High Expectations for Reform


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