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ON THE PATH TO GREAT EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 

FOR THE DISTRICT’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS? 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, 

THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

MARCH 14, 2008 

Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL 

WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

THOMAS RICHARDS, Professional Staff Member 

JENNIFER A. HEMINGWAY, Minority Staff Director 

DAVID COLE, Professional Staff Member 

JESSICA NAGASAKO, Chief Clerk 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statement: Page 

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 1 

WITNESSES 

FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2008 

Cornelia M. Ashby, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security 

Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office ................................................. 2 

Michelle Rhee, Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools ......................... 4 

Victor Reinoso, Deputy Mayor for Education, Office of the Deputy Mayor 

for Education, District of Columbia .................................................................... 8 

Deborah A. Gist, State Superintendent of Education, Office of the State 

Superintendent of Education, District of Columbia .......................................... 11 

Allen Y. Lew, Executive Director, Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, District of Columbia Public School .................................................. 13 

Jane Hannaway, Ph.D., Director, Education Policy Center, Urban Institute .... 31 

John W. Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Federal City Council ............................... 33 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Ashby, Cornelia M.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 2 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 

Gist, Deborah A.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 11 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 82 

Hannaway, Jane, Ph.D.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 31 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 95 

Hill, John W.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 33 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 100 

Lew, Allen Y.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 13 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 88 

Reinoso, Victor: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 73 

Rhee, Michelle: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 66 

APPENDIX 

Robert Vinson Brannum, Chairman, Education Committee, DC Federation 

of Civic Associations, Inc., prepared statement ................................................. 107 

Hon. Paul Strauss, U.S. Senator, District of Columbia (Shadow), prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 110 

Mary Spencer, Committee Chair for DC ACORN School Modernization Committee (ASMOC), prepared statement ................................................................ 114 

Gina Arlotto, Co-founder of Save Our School, prepared statement ..................... 115 

Background .............................................................................................................. 117 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record Submitted from: 

Ms. Rhee ............................................................................................................ 124 

Mr. Reinoso ....................................................................................................... 128 

Ms. Gist ............................................................................................................. 131 

(1) 

ON THE PATH TO GREAT EDUCATIONAL 

RESULTS FOR THE DISTRICT’S 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS? 

FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2008 

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT

MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE,

AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in 

Room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K. 

Akaka, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senator Akaka. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. This hearing will come to order. 

Good morning and welcome to all of you. I look upon this as a 

very important hearing, and thank you for joining us today for the 

second in a series of hearings on the District of Columbia Public 

School system reforms. I know you all have been working diligently 

and hard, and I want to commend all of you for the improvements 

thus far. I look forward to hearing more about the progress you 

have made and your further intentions. 

As you may know, before being elected to Congress, I was a 

teacher and a principal. I was in the school system in Hawaii. I 

know firsthand the challenges facing any educational system, the 

care it takes to bring about reforms, the needed investment in clear 

strategic plans, and the critical importance of providing quality 

education to underserved populations. 

You have made many tough decisions already and taken noteworthy steps, but expectations are high. A number of accountability 

measures have been put into place including weekly meetings at all 

levels of DC Government, which hold senior level staff and officials 

accountable for their efforts. 

Given how critical this issue is for DC children, I asked the Government Accountability Office to review the progress of the reforms 

and make recommendations for improvements. The short-term 

study, which we will hear the results of today, confirms significant 

improvements in the system and fundamental changes, such as 

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1The prepared statement of Ms. Ashby appears in the Appendix on page 41. 

ards, development of strategic plans, and addressing crumbling facilities. 

To guide these reforms and build upon these efforts, one of 

GAO’s recommendations is that a system-wide strategic plan 

should be developed. I agree with this finding. For all major transformational reform efforts, it is important that there be a strategy 

for the future. 

The strategic plan should be a transparent, living document focused on the students with a clear vision for all DC agencies to understand their roles and their responsibilities. 

We are looking at a fast-moving train. Every day new changes 

occur in the school system, testing the hope and expectations of 

parents, teachers, the community, and, most importantly, the children and the students. 

I hope today we can gain a better understanding of the progress 

made and gain a greater understanding of future plans, and so I 

look forward to all of our witnesses this morning. 

Our first panel is Cornelia Ashby, who is the Director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, Government Accountability Office; Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the DC Public 

Schools; Victor Reinoso, Deputy Mayor for Education, District of 

Columbia; Deborah Gist, DC State Superintendent of Education; 

and Allen Lew, Executive Director of the Office of Public Education 

Facilities Modernization. 

Our Committee rules require that all witnesses testify under 

oath. Therefore, I ask each of you to stand and please raise your 

right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are 

about to give the Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and 

nothing but the truth, so help you, God? 

Ms. ASHBY. I do. 

Ms. RHEE. I do. 

Mr. REINOSO. I do. 

Ms. GIST. I do. 

Mr. LEW. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Let it be noted in the record that the 

witnesses answered in the affirmative. 

Welcome again. Before we begin, I want you all to know that although your oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, your full statements will be included in the record. 

So, Ms. Ashby, would you please proceed with your statement? 

TESTIMONY OF CORNELIA M. ASHBY,1 DIRECTOR, EDUCATION, 

WORKFORCE, AND INCOME SECURITY ISSUES, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Ms. ASHBY. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here this morning 

to present information on the District’s progress in reforming its 

public school system. Early reform efforts have focused largely on 

broad critical management issues and other activities that provide 

the foundation for long-term improvement. In addition to developing and implementing transitional plans to establish the new 

governance structure required by the 2007 Reform Act, early reform efforts have included human capital, data, school consolidaVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:49 Sep 02, 2008 Jkt 041459 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\41459.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
3 

tion, facilities, Federal grants management, and some performance 

and strategic planning initiatives, as well as setting academic priorities. 

With respect to human capital, new personnel rules and new systems for evaluating the performance of central office employees and 

employees of the State Superintendent’s Office were developed. According to DC Public Schools officials, as of January, all staff had 

received performance evaluations based on District Governmentwide competencies. Officials at the State Superintendent’s Office 

told us that individual performance plans had been developed for 

all staff, and performance evaluations based on those plans will 

begin later this month. 

Both the State Superintendent’s Office and DCPS are working to 

improve their data systems to track and monitor the performance 

of students, teachers, and schools. The Superintendent’s Office is 

building a longitudinal database. The database is expected to be 

fully operational by 2012. 

DCPS is consolidating its data systems, eliminating duplicate information, and verifying data accuracy. DCPS officials told us they 

expect the new student data management system to be operational 

by February 2009. In addition, DCPS is moving from a paper-based 

to an electronic personnel data system. 

Steps have also been taken to consolidate schools and set academic priorities. This month, DCPS finalized its school consolidation plan, which identifies over 20 schools for closure in an effort 

to provide more resources to the remaining schools. 

In the area of academic achievement, DCPS has set academic 

priorities for the current school year and is in the process of establishing longer-term priorities DCPS is currently working on a 5- 

year academic plan. 

To address the backlog of work orders and ongoing facilities 

needs, the new Facilities Office made repairs to over 70 schools last 

summer and in early fall. It also assessed the condition of heating 

and air conditioning systems in all District schools. According to 

the Facilities Director, repairs were made to school heating systems, and all schools had heat by October 15. In addition, he told 

us all schools with central air conditioning received upgrades, and 

about 670 new air conditioning units were installed. Last fall, the 

Facilities Office also began making improvements to the remaining 

schools. The Facilities Office is revising the DCPS 2006 Master Facilities Plan. According to District officials, the revised plan, which 

is to be completed by the end of May, will align with the chancellor’s academic priorities and school consolidation efforts. 

The State superintendent has begun to address long-term grant 

management and No Child Left Behind Act compliance deficiencies 

identified by the U.S. Department of Education. For example, to 

meet the No Child Left Behind State level requirements, the State 

superintendent is establishing a process for providing technical assistance to underperforming schools. The State superintendent has 

told us that her office has started to develop a strategic plan that 

will include measurable goals and objectives and expects to complete the plan this summer. 

The mayor and education officials have also developed a performance-based process designed to establish accountability for these 

4 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Rhee appears in the Appendix on page 66. 

school reform efforts. As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the process 

includes holding weekly meetings to track progress and accomplishments across education offices, as well as requiring these offices to 

develop and follow annual performance plans. The DC Department 

of Education has taken some steps to coordinate and integrate the 

various efforts of the District education offices. However, it has not 

developed a District-wide strategic education plan. 

While developing a long-term strategic plan takes time, it is useful for entities undergoing transformation, such as the DC Public 

School system. A strategic plan and the process of developing one 

helps organizations look across the goals of multiple offices and determine whether they are aligned and connected or working at 

cross purposes. By articulating an overall mission or vision, a strategic plan helps organizations set priorities, implementation strategies, and timelines to measure the progress of multiple offices. A 

long-term strategic plan is also an important communication tool, 

articulating a consistent set of goals and marking progress for employees and key stakeholders. Given that leadership changes, a 

strategic plan would provide a road map for future District leaders. 

For these reasons, we recommend, as you also mentioned, Mr. 

Chairman, the development of a District-wide education strategic 

plan. 

Mr. Chairman, this completes my prepared statement. I would be 

happy to answer any questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Ms. Ashby. Ms. Rhee. 

TESTIMONY OF MICHELLE RHEE,1 CHANCELLOR, DISTRICT OF 

COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Ms. RHEE. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka. When I last testified before you, I said that I would rebuild the public school system 

in Washington, DC. I described plans to overhaul flawed data and 

accountability systems, create a culture of individual accountability 

for student achievement, build strong leadership and high-quality 

teaching in our schools, reform special education, and address multiple other areas to increase student achievement. As my evaluation of the system has deepened over the last 8 months, I have 

been shocked by the profound level of dysfunction under which 

DCPS has been operating. I met high school seniors who want to 

go to college next year but who had just learned about prepositions. 

I heard from teachers who had not been paid for the work they had 

done 3 years ago. And I met elementary school students who sent 

me a ‘‘wish list’’ for their school. They asked if they could have a 

music teacher, a Spanish teacher, a librarian, and other basic 

things for which no children should have to lobby their chancellor 

for. 

These are not just anecdotes. What saddens me most is what the 

performance data says about what this system is doing to kids. According to our DC–CAS data, 50 of our schools have proficiency 

rates lower than 20 percent in either reading or math. This means 

that four out of five kids in those schools do not meet even the 

most basic level of proficiency. We are talking about almost 14,000 

children. 

5 

Residents of the District have rightly demanded radical change, 

and we are responding swiftly. In this transitional year, we have 

begun to remove the obstacles that block student achievement. We 

are solving the problems that need to be solved, and I look forward 

to discussing this work with you today. However, this system needs 

more than solving problems one at a time. This year we are laying 

the foundations for my long-term strategy, building our priorities 

and goals for the next 5 years. On these foundations we will build 

the system to give our children the skills they need and the choices 

in life that they deserve. 

I am going to talk a little bit about some of the things that we 

have done so far. 

First, this year, after receiving multiple reports of problems with 

our central office, we have swiftly and aggressively moved to solve 

them. From former employees who were still receiving benefits and 

paychecks that they could not explain, to teachers who had not 

been paid and parents who could not get an employee to return a 

phone call, there were so many issues to confront that I set up a 

constituent services team to help parents and school staff navigate 

the central office. I learned that many staff members do not have 

job descriptions and that they had never received a performance 

evaluation. We responded. I communicated the mayor’s higher customer service standards to all employees and lobbied for personnel 

legislation that would allow us to increase the efficiency of our central office as a whole and to create a culture of accountability. We 

are reorganizing the central office as we speak so that people’s 

skills and performance are best suited to their positions and office. 

We created job descriptions for all employees and conducted our 

first round of performance evaluations. We have previously non-responsive employees who, after just one performance evaluation, are 

now working harder at their jobs. In the past 4 months, our customer satisfaction rate with the central office response has jumped 

from 41 percent to 59 percent, and I am confident that will continue to improve. 

Reforming DCPS requires that we have the best principals leading our schools. Previous DCPS recruiting has been minimal, but 

through a new principal recruitment campaign, we are interviewing and identifying quality school leaders. We have already received close to 500 applications, and we expect this number to grow 

as more prospective candidates begin considering their options for 

next year. 

Recruitment, however, is only half the task. To keep strong employees, leaders must recognize and reward good work. In the Nation’s capital it is time for us to back our words about respecting 

successful educators with the investment that will keep them in 

our schools. We started this year by utilizing Federal funds to give 

what we call TEAM Awards to schools that showed dramatic gains 

in student achievement, and my long-term plans aim to increase 

performance awards to teachers and schools. 

In the past, DCPS has not supported teachers by providing them 

with the training they needed to drive instruction forward, and in 

a massive effort this year, we are turning around professional development. Before, there was no consistency in the quality of instruction across the District, and parents were rightfully frustrated 

6 

by this disparity. Now, we are teaching our teachers how to use the 

best practices for reading and math instruction and making instruction consistent across the system. 

Also, we are showing our teachers how to use test data to drive 

instruction and abolishing the ‘‘drill and kill’’ style of teaching often 

associated with standardized tests. For example, the reading portion of the DC–CAS measures students’ ability to read for meaning, 

a skill that this District as a whole has failed to provide. We are 

training teachers to use ‘‘constructed response’’ questions to teach 

children how to show reading comprehension through fully developed written responses. This is not ‘‘test prep.’’ It is good teaching, 

and it is what gives children the skills that they will need as 

adults. 

We are also providing a monthly professional development calendar full of options across the District. These options are aligned 

to the specific needs of teachers and students as identified through 

testing data, surveys, and school observations. Not only will this 

help the District to track professional development for each teacher, it will support our teachers in honing their craft. Overall, our 

work in professional development this year increases our ability to 

retain the teachers we need, when too often in this field, isolation 

and a lack of support lead to preventable burnout. 

Since I have arrived, I have received an education in just how 

severe our problems with data management are. An initial assessment revealed that we have 27 disconnected data systems in the 

DC Public Schools. An update in one location did not automate an 

update in other areas where similar information was stored. This 

affected even the most basic operations. For example, in September 

when I attempted to send an e-mail to all teachers, my in-box was 

filled with returns from defunct e-mail accounts, and I was advised 

that I should back up the mailing with a paper letter sent to individual schools. Now, with continued outreach to schools and new 

connected data systems, this longstanding communication problem 

is being corrected. Through a collaborative effort with Human Resources, we have updated our teacher e-mail list from 45 percent 

accuracy to about 75 percent. Also this school year we worked with 

the city’s chief technology officer to install 5,900 PCs in our schools 

so that every single DCPS classroom teacher has a working computer. They will use these new computers to view student data, 

take attendance, conduct research, take advantage of professional 

development opportunities, and, finally, to receive my e-mails. 

Streamlining our data systems is a massive undertaking that 

will occur over the next few years, but it is one of my highest priorities. In every area of DCPS, my long-term objective is to use data 

as every good organization does: To improve performance. My chief 

data and accountability officer has been successful in streamlining 

these systems in other districts, and I am confident that our plans 

for the District’s data systems will result in significant progress in 

our offices and classrooms. 

Many schools had significant needs that require immediate attention this year. First, some of our schools are without psychologists, guidance counselors, school nurses, art or music teachers. 

Teachers are forced to attempt to provide the services that they are 

not equipped to provide, especially when I needed them to focus on 

7 

instruction. Our schools with low enrollment numbers are particularly hard to staff. Schools were paying to maintain unused space 

when we need that money to staff the school and provide strong 

programs. In November, we introduced a plan to right-size the 

school system and bring strong new academic initiatives and a full 

staffing model to our schools over time. We are working through 

the remainder of the school year and summer to prepare schools for 

upcoming transitions due to school closures and new programs. 

We also have a number of schools that are not meeting Academic 

Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, and we are 

carefully assessing the options available under the law to make the 

right decisions for each school. We will use these assessments to 

create plans for each school, not only to correct problems but to 

align their programs with our longer-term plans for success. 

I know I am running over. Do you want me to continue? 

Senator AKAKA. Yes. 

Ms. RHEE. OK. Special education in this District has been a real 

and deep hardship for many students and families. I have not only 

been shocked by the mistakes that have led to the loss of millions 

of dollars that could have been used to serve instruction, but also, 

more importantly, I have been saddened by the damage that DCPS 

has done by over-identifying students who should not have been 

classified and by failing to support the children who do need services. 

We have been aggressive about identifying the root of these problems and correcting them. To start, we will be working with the 

State superintendent of education to pilot mental health programs 

in middle schools; to introduce the comprehensive staffing model 

through the right-sizing plan next year; and to reform our process 

for identifying students for special needs services by accurately diagnosing learning needs. Our long-term strategies to raise student 

achievement levels include eight new school-wide applications 

model schools next year, which have shown tremendous success in 

urban districts across the country to ensure high achievement for 

both disabled and nondisabled students. This system currently has 

a reputation for being the least inclusive in the country when it 

comes to our special education students, and our focus now is how 

to become an integrated, inclusive district where we are not segregating these students. 

Historically, this system has not done well bringing parents into 

students’ education. Our long-term plans will include the initiatives 

we need to engage parents in our work in schools. Many parents 

simply do not know what they can expect, demand, or do to support 

their children through each stage of the learning process. We are 

now building the foundations to communicate clearly with parents 

about their children’s progress and about important processes such 

as college applications. We are holding parent information sessions, 

opening Parent Resource Centers, conducting focus groups with 

parents, and increasing our commitment to translating and interpreting information for linguistically and culturally diverse parents. 

During this first transition year, I have identified the problems 

that have been blocking student achievement for years. We are 

solving these problems. Whether by right-sizing the system, speedVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:49 Sep 02, 2008 Jkt 041459 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\41459.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
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1The prepared statement of Mr. Reinoso appears in the Appendix on page 73. 

ing a slow bureaucracy, or improving our data systems, we are 

building the foundation for a system that works. 

After this year we will move into the proactive long-term implementation strategy that will move us beyond correcting current 

problems to creating model programs. I want a portfolio of quality 

schools in every ward across this District that provides quality 

choices to all students and parents. I want a District that fosters 

a college-going culture in every ward, allowing our students to be 

as competitive for college as any students in the Nation. Clearly, 

we are far from seeing the results that I want today. But as I approach the closing months of this school year of transition, I remain determined and am very confident that we are going to see 

those changes happen. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much for your statement, Ms. 

Rhee. Mr. Reinoso. 

TESTIMONY OF VICTOR REINOSO,1 DEPUTY MAYOR FOR EDUCATION, OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY MAYOR FOR EDUCATION, 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

Mr. REINOSO. Good morning, Senator. I appear before you today 

to report on the progress made by the District of Columbia in implementing the mayor’s public education reform initiatives and on 

the strategies we are developing to continue that momentum moving forward. First, however, I have to pause to say how incredibly 

proud I am of the team that the mayor has put together to lead 

the agencies where the work is happening and of the job that each 

of them has done thus far to respond to the mayor’s charge that 

we not just reform, but really remake, the District of Columbia 

Public Schools, and that we do this as quickly as humanly possible. 

As you will hear in the testimony of each of them, they have made 

great strides in addressing critical problems within their agencies—in some cases more progress than had been seen in many 

years before this team took charge—and at the same time, they are 

developing the long-term strategic plans that will guide us towards 

continued, systemic improvement in the future. 

The District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment 

Act of 2007 enabled the mayor to embark on a sweeping array of 

initiatives and reforms, some of which have already begun to fundamentally change our approach to public education. My office was 

established to oversee all of those efforts and to ensure that the entire District Government—including both our education and our 

non-education agencies—moves forward coherently and in alignment towards our shared goal: Ensuring the success of every student. I have also been charged by the mayor with marshalling all 

of the District’s resources—public, private, and in the community— 

to improve the educational processes and outcomes for all the District’s students in order to prepare them for successful futures. 

Thus, while each of the witnesses who joins me here will describe 

his or her own strategic plan to move us toward this goal within 

the scope of their agency’s mission and capabilities, I will discuss 

the role of my office in coordinating these plans and, as imporVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:49 Sep 02, 2008 Jkt 041459 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\41459.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
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tantly, ensuring that the human and other resources are made 

available to support their execution. 

To accomplish this critical task, I have organized my office 

around four broad activities: Coordination of a District-wide educational strategy; coordination and direction of high-quality services and programs that reach across city agencies and educational 

institutions to improve child and youth outcomes; development of 

robust partnerships with community-based organizations and the 

private sector that provide the District’s education system with 

critical new resources; and leadership and support to the Office of 

the State Superintendent, the Office of Public Education Facilities 

Modernization, and the Ombudsman Office, all of which report 

through me to the mayor. We are moving successfully forward on 

several fronts, which I will highlight briefly here. 

When we set out to improve our public education system, the 

mayor made a foundation decision to attack the problem comprehensively. The Administration views education as a continuum 

from birth into adulthood: Learning is always taking place and access to quality educational opportunities must exist at every level. 

Also, it is not enough to transform what happens in the classroom; 

to succeed, we have to meet all of our students’ needs, including 

the needs that students bring from outside the classroom. So as a 

government, the District must bring to bear all of the resources of 

its public and private sectors—in a coordinated manner—to support children and learning in order to create an environment in 

which they can succeed. 

My office is well positioned not only to think strategically about 

the direction of our reform efforts, but also to address specific challenges and tackle special projects that support implementation of 

the plans of each of these agencies. We are able to take on work 

that will enable the Chancellor and State superintendent to be 

more effective in their efforts. For example, my staff has played a 

leadership role in planning around how to align our education-related infrastructure and resources with outcome-driven priorities— 

including the rapid closure of key service gaps. This work is continuous and correlates directly with the top priorities of the mayor. 

Most recently, my office has been leading the planning and coordination around the school facilities consolidation effort. In this 

role, we have provided capacity to the chancellor and her team 

around analyzing data, creating strategies, engaging the community, and, ultimately, developing recommendations for the reorganization plan. This joint effort led to a proposal that will enable the 

chancellor to drive resources down to the classroom and provide 

higher quality academic services to students across the city. 

We approach the reform agenda from a big-picture perspective. 

We can identify gaps in academic and support services and work 

with agencies to close those gaps. One example of the work which 

is detailed in my written testimony is the support we are providing 

to DCPS around implementation of an alternative high school 

model. In addition, the mayor’s education initiative is being pursued across numerous fronts, and my office is again uniquely positioned to guide those efforts without being involved in the day-today management and operation of the education agencies. This is 

allowing us to aggressively pursue particular high-priority initiaVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:49 Sep 02, 2008 Jkt 041459 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\41459.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
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tives, restructure and reorganize services, and manage agency performance while keeping an eye on the big picture. 

The State superintendent will comment on some of her key priorities, including special education and addressing our high-risk designation for Federal grants. But we continue to support her in a 

number of other efforts as well: The comprehensive student warehouse, etc. I will not steal her thunder. 

Mr. Lew’s shop has a more narrowly defined but no less daunting 

task: To repair, maintain, renovate, modernize, and construct as 

many of our school facilities as quickly, efficiently, and effectively 

as possible, and he will expound on those efforts. 

But a second critically important function of my office is to lead 

and coordinate the activities of the Interagency Collaboration and 

Services Integration Commission, more affectionately known as 

ICSIC, a panel created by the mayor’s reform legislation and comprised of the agency heads from over 20 agencies that touch the 

lives of children and families. ICSIC has a unique ability to identify new ways that we, as a government, can increase the chances 

of success for our students. Some of the key highlights of the work 

that has happened there is that we have begun now to develop a 

school preparedness assessment, which will be piloted this spring 

in 100 kindergarten classrooms in April and May, with a broader 

rollout in the fall. We have also improved the tracking of child 

health indicators. Both of these are examples of how my office sits 

uniquely positioned not as a day-to-day operating agency, but as 

one that looks strategically across the government to provide support to the education agencies, and to integrate and align their 

work and the work of other agencies so that we are moving forward 

the full potential of children inside and outside the classroom. We 

have laid the groundwork for progress on a number of goals, and 

I expect similar accomplishments moving forward. 

Finally, as I said, my office is active in the development of school 

partnerships: Meeting with organizations seeking to support the 

mayor’s reform efforts, tracking down and developing new partnership relationships, reviewing existing partnerships to better understand coverage and gaps and to determine their effectiveness in 

moving us towards our strategic goals. Since October, we have had 

dozens of meetings with organizations and have begun to lay the 

groundwork for, I think, some powerful new partnerships, both at 

the city-wide level but also at the local school level. I believe the 

success of these efforts is evidence that the Administration has 

communicated effectively with external stakeholders about our 

strategic approach to improving education in the District and 

shows that there are many people in the private and nonprofit sectors who are ready to help, so long as they feel that their efforts 

are part of a larger plan to move forward. 

Again, I thank you for the opportunity to share with you the 

progress that the District is making, and I look forward to your 

questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Reinoso. Ms. Gist. 

11 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Gist appears in the Appendix on page 82. 

TESTIMONY OF DEBORAH A. GIST,1 STATE SUPERINTENDENT 

OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT 

OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

Ms. GIST. Good morning, Senator Akaka, Committee staff and 

guests, and thank you for having us here. I really appreciate the 

opportunity to be here to discuss the progress that we have made 

in the Office of the State Superintendent of Education since we 

were here to brief you last summer, which is actually before the 

State functions were moved into our agency. So a lot has happened 

during that time. 

I am going to talk to you about our strategic vision and I am also 

going to update you on two of the education reform efforts that we 

have been working on. 

The Education Reform Act that was enacted last summer and 

the transition plan that Mayor Fenty approved identified Statelevel education functions that were within three different agencies 

that were transferred into the Office of the State Superintendent 

of Education on October 1, which was actually just about 5 months 

ago. And while extracting these State functions from these existing 

agencies was very complex, I am pleased to be able to tell you 

today that the transition occurred successfully. We met our goals. 

It was for the most part completely within our time frame. And the 

existing functions, including early childhood, for example, are set 

to transfer, in the near future. We expect the transfer to occur successfully. 

As a result of these transfers of responsibilities, we have been 

able to focus on establishing core foundational components that will 

allow us to be successful in carrying out our mission and providing 

the appropriate level of support and oversight to the local education agencies within the District of Columbia. The first of these 

foundational components that we are reforming, as has been mentioned, is the special education system. Our Federal grants management system is another. And as you know, the U.S. Department 

of Education has designated us as a high-risk grantee. And I am 

pleased to let you know that we have made quite a bit of progress, 

and I will go over just a few of those reforms that we have made 

on the Federal grants management briefly. 

For example, we are ensuring that we have adequate oversight 

over the use of Federal funds through monitoring of our local education agencies within Washington, DC, which includes DCPS as 

well as public charter schools. We are developing and refining our 

financial monitoring systems to ensure fiscal compliance. We are 

increasing our grants management accountability through the development of evaluation protocols for our LEAs. We are ensuring 

extensive collaboration with our local education agencies around 

different reform efforts in order to provide the maximum leveraging 

of our Federal dollars. And we are ensuring efficient fund allocation and distribution systems so that the Federal funds are allocated and distributed in a more expedited manner, which has been 

a failure of our system in the past, and also to improve our documentation. 

12 

We are focused on developing a foundation, as has also been 

talked about, the importance of data, and this has also been a failure of our system in the past as both have access to high-quality 

data but also to use that data effectively. The Office of the State 

Superintendent of Education is taking the lead on the development 

of a State-wide or a District-wide longitudinal education data warehouse that will link together the different data systems that all of 

our partners within the city are working on. It will include data 

from the public charter schools, from the DC Public School system, 

and will span from childhood through higher education and even 

include adult education. 

Thus far, we have created an interim data system that is based 

on a unique student identifier, which is obviously a key foundational element to any strong data system, and we are currently updating that on a monthly basis, bringing together data that we receive from the LEAs within the District. 

We have enhanced the interim student tracking system recently 

to include richer and more advanced data, including information on 

the student’s grade level, where they are enrolled, their exit dates, 

and, where applicable, their special education status or their 

English language learner status. 

In addition, we have mapped all of this information to existing 

student achievement data out of the DC–CAS assessment so that 

we can not only get a picture of mobility, but so that we can also 

take a look at what that mobility might mean in terms of student 

achievement. This interim system will serve as a key foundational 

component as we move forward in developing that comprehensive 

data warehouse. 

The final foundational component that is central to our reform 

strategy is the development of our strategic plan. Our mission at 

the Office of the State Superintendent of Education is for all District residents to receive an excellent education for success in the 

21st Century. The framework of the strategic plan that we are currently developing is for all students to be served and supported, 

that all children will be ready for school, that all students will have 

access to excellent schools, and, finally, that all residents will be 

prepared for success in college or in the 21st Century workplace. 

These goals include functions that we are already responsible for, 

such as the child nutrition programs, early childhood functions, 

and responsibilities around student achievement in the District. 

So we have a long road ahead of us as we continue on these reform efforts, but I really do believe that there is no greater civil 

rights challenge that we have right now in our country, and certainly in our city, than ensuring that our children have access and 

receive a high-quality education at every level of their experience 

in our systems. And I take that responsibility very seriously, as do 

the members of our team here, as do the people on our staff. I am 

confident that providing the proper foundations of reform through 

efforts like our Federal grants system and the data warehouse— 

these are tools and things that we need to be operating effectively 

so that the instruction, the parts that Chancellor Rhee and the 

teachers that are actually interacting with our students every day 

so that they can be successful. 

13 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Lew appears in the Appendix on page 88. 

We will ultimately be judged at the end of the day for whether 

or not our student achievement increases, and we are fully committed to seeing those results. 

I appreciate this opportunity to be here with you this morning, 

and I look forward to your questions and our conversation. Thank 

you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Ms. Gist. Mr. Lew. 

TESTIMONY OF ALLEN Y. LEW,1 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION FACILITIES MODERNIZATION, 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Mr. LEW. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you 

for the opportunity to appear before you today. For the record, my 

name is Allen Lew. I am the Executive Director of the Office of 

Public Education Facilities Modernization. Our office was established by the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007. It 

is responsible for the maintenance and repair of existing DC Public 

Schools, as well as rehabilitation and construction of schools and 

facilities and the development of a revised Master Plan for the system. 

In the past several months, we have been engaged in a number 

of initiatives aimed at addressing quality-of-life issues necessary to 

support a classroom and school environment that is conducive to 

learning. These initiatives, including athletic field renovations, a 

Summer Blitz program, targeted roof repair programs, and fire and 

health code abatement, as well as a system-wide heating system 

maintenance program—concentrated on the most glaring deficiencies affecting the school facilities when the mayor took over the 

system. I am pleased to report that we have successfully implemented each of these urgent-need projects. 

At the same time, I am proud to say that we also have been able 

to undertake significant management reforms since I last appeared 

before this Subcommittee, while also preparing for major construction initiatives this spring and summer. 

In terms of organizational reforms, we set up an office—literally 

from scratch—to manage the summer blitz and targeted repair programs and the athletic field renovations that I just mentioned. We 

have drafted and published new procurement regulations. We have 

drafted new personnel regulations. We have competitively procured 

a program management team that provides roughly 22 FTEs to 

augment our school construction and facilities maintenance and 

staff, we have assumed responsibility for school maintenance functions. We have engaged a management consultant to develop stateof-the-art procurement, human resources, and information management systems, and we have begun the process of transitioning 

former DCPS OFM personnel into our office. 

On the school modernization side, we have worked to change the 

former culture of project management at the school system and in 

some cases, construction management teams for certain projects 

have been terminated. For instance, at the Savoy School, the contractor, the builder, was terminated for the construction phase. 

14 

All of our renovation and new construction project budgets are 

being reviewed, and they are being ‘‘right-sized’’ to more accurately 

reflect what we expect to be actual costs. In the past, the cost estimates in the budgets were based to be simply square footage and 

had no relationship to real needs or to the conditions of the schools. 

We are correcting that now. 

We currently have approximately 20 major construction projects 

that are in various stages of design, preconstruction, and construction that are moving forward expeditiously. As we move forward 

with these projects, we are reassessing the minimum quality standards for school buildings. We have found that some of the existing 

standards do not reflect the need for durability, maintenance, and 

life cycle of finishes, for example, of a school facility, and that this 

ultimately could affect the long-term cost and short-term labor requirements to maintain these new and renovated schools. One advantage of OPEFM being responsible for maintenance as well as 

construction is that we are considering what it takes to maintain 

buildings, not just to build the buildings early in our planning and 

design process. 

On the topic of maintenance, through the various repair programs we initiated this past summer and fall, we substantially reduced the backlog of work orders at about 70 schools. We are currently in the process of clearing the remaining work orders 

throughout the system. We also are initiating a stabilization program, where the 60 or 70 schools that were not really participants 

in the programs this past summer are going to be receiving upgrades and repairs. As part of this, we are establishing a triage 

system so that when new repair orders come in, they will be addressed more quickly and efficiently. Emergency repairs will be addressed right away. Routine maintenance type repairs will be integrated into possibly a larger effort when the classrooms are not 

being disrupted by our work crews. 

We have also initiated an air conditioning program. We have discovered that many of the classrooms actually did not have air conditioning. It was not a question of repairing the air conditioners. 

There was just absolutely no air conditioning. So we are in the 

process right now of getting all of the central AC systems running 

properly, as well as ensuring that air conditioning units in the 

classrooms are installed where necessary. One of the main hurdles 

right now relates to the fact that the schools have inadequate electrical capacity in many instances. So we have to actually upgrade 

the electrical systems before even installing the air conditioners. 

Our goal is to get the new classroom air conditioning up and running by late spring. In some cases, we are going to have to rely on 

some temporary systems. We did that with the heating program a 

few months ago. About seven or eight schools required temporary 

boilers that were brought in to provide heat until the permanent 

system was repaired. And we are going to be doing the same thing 

with the air conditioning systems in some of the schools this 

spring. There are about 10 or 12 that will require temporary 

chillers, and we are going to have to provide some temporary electrical upgrades that would allow us to power up the systems. 

On the larger modernization initiative, we are working with the 

deputy mayor of education and the chancellor to refine school/grade 

15 

configurations across the system, prioritize facility delivery, and 

identify systemic efficiencies that will allow us to move more students into new and modernized school buildings faster. In addition 

to the data used to develop the educational specifications for the 

chancellor’s school consolidation plan, much of the data developed 

in the 2006 Master Facilities Plan are still relevant to our modernization efforts. We also found that the facility assessments—the 

information that was prepared during the past Administration as 

part of the master plan process was extremely helpful to us in our 

effort to deal with the heating and the electrical problems in the 

system as we move forward with the stabilization efforts. Right 

now we also are going through a major effort to reassess the construction formula that was implemented as part of their master 

plan by our predecessors to determine whether to build new schools 

or restore or expand existing schools and the logic behind the decisions that were made in the past. Having analyzed that formula, 

we are working now to find a balance that will result in a more 

effective and efficient combination of rehabilitation and new construction for the revised Facilities Master Plan. Ultimately, we 

think this will allow us to modernize quicker and address the longterm needs sooner, and as well as possibly reducing the capital expenditures over the course of 10 or 15 years. 

I am excited to be working with the mayor, deputy mayor, and 

the chancellor, as well as the State superintendent, to implement 

these reforms. If there are any questions, I am more than pleased 

to take them. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Lew. 

Mr. Reinoso, under the requirements of the No Child Left Behind 

Act, when a school is failing, parents, teachers, the community, and 

the administrators come together and develop a strategic plan to 

improve that one school. When a system of schools is failing, don’t 

you think a similar plan should be put together that addresses reforms for the entire education system? 

Mr. REINOSO. You are saying should there be a comprehensive 

plan for the education system? 

Senator AKAKA. Yes. 

Mr. REINOSO. I think the answer to that is yes, and I think the 

question is where are we looking for that plan. If you look at the 

State level, there is a State plan—which in DC is another way of 

saying city-wide plan—that is being developed around accountability and around the requirements of the No Child Left Behind 

Act, by the State superintendent. If you look at the local school 

level, in addition to work that is being done by the charter schools, 

our largest local education agency, led by Chancellor Rhee, is developing its own comprehensive plan to address both underperforming 

schools, to meet the requirements of NCLB, but also to provide a 

compelling and comprehensive public education option to all of the 

residents of the District of Columbia. 

So I think, again, the answer is yes, there should be a plan, and 

I would argue that there is a plan. The Chancellor has a comprehensive plan for DCPS that she is developing over 5 years 

where people will be able to see the metrics, the benchmarks, and 

the specific focus areas year after year, and as the Superintendent 

mentioned, she is working on a 5-year plan where, again, there will 

16 

be laid out clear, transparent metrics and goals for year after year 

after year. And then my office will ensure that they have the resources necessary to execute their plans, and also that there is the 

necessary accountability. 

As they lay out their metrics, we will be trying to stay ahead of 

the public in terms of holding them accountable because the public 

will then hold the mayor accountable for whether or not they met 

their goals. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, without question, the testimony and statements given this morning by this team demonstrates a strategy for 

reforms. But can you tell me how you are communicating that plan 

to the education community? And what are you doing to incorporate constructive feedback? You touched on that, but can you be 

more specific? 

Mr. REINOSO. Sure. The chancellor is developing her plan, and 

then I think once there is a firmed-up document, she will be engaged in a fairly broad effort to communicate her priorities to the 

community. With your permission, if you want to ask for the specifics of the engagement strategy that she intends to pursue, by all 

means do so. The superintendent will also be conveying her plan, 

and there has already been, I think, community involvement to 

some extent in both conversations. And so throughout this time, 

throughout these 15 months, and even prior to that, during the 

campaign, all of us and the mayor have collected a tremendous 

amount of information of what the community needs and expectations are for the school system, and we are incorporating that in 

these drafts, which will then go out to the public in a very transparent way, at which point we will get additional feedback. 

With Mr. Lew’s plan, likewise, we are working on developing a 

new Master Facilities Plan and there will be a community engagement process as part of that. And so at the high level of the plans, 

there is community engagement, and then in the execution, there 

is also community engagement. Just as an example, there was a 

tremendous amount of engagement around the school consolidation 

proposals the chancellor put forward. Nest week, we are beginning 

a series of community meetings around the next step in this process—the reuse of those school facilities—so there will also be opportunities for folks to provide comment as we move forward on that 

strand of work. And, similarly, the chancellor has held meetings 

around her restructuring proposals. There will be community engagement around the principal selection effort that she is engaging 

on. And Mr. Lew has met with a number of communities around 

individual specific facilities projects. 

So, again, I think you can tease these opportunities for engagement out at various levels, but there is engagement in the process. 

And in terms of communicating the big-picture priorities, the 

mayor first at the 100-day point in his Administration communicated a set of priorities, and then at the beginning of this year 

he also communicated an expanded set of priorities around education that highlighted aspects of both the State superintendent’s 

efforts and the chancellor’s efforts. So I think folks have multiple 

ways of knowing what we are working on and then commenting on 

individual pieces of it as they evolve in their implementation. 

17 

Senator AKAKA. Well, I believe transparency—and this is what I 

am talking about—is so important, especially for the people you are 

serving so they understand what it is you are trying to do. And my 

purpose in having this hearing this morning and the one that we 

had previously was really to bring not only to the DC community 

but also the congressional community information about what you 

are doing and how you are doing it. And this is very important to 

gain support, and for me now, I have extended it to not only DC 

and Congress, but the rest of the country—— 

Mr. REINOSO. That is right. 

Senator AKAKA [continuing]. Is looking at DC and what DC is 

doing to reform the system. So it is very important that we have 

a process for transparency here. 

Let me ask the chancellor, the superintendent, and Mr. Lew, the 

question that I asked Mr. Reinoso: How are you communicating 

your plans to those affected by the reforms? And what are you 

doing to incorporate constructive feedback? I am glad to hear from 

some of you the word ‘‘partnership’’ and trying to work other 

groups in as well. But how are you communicating your plans, 

chancellor? 

Ms. RHEE. Sure. If you look at some of the major reforms that 

we are putting in place right now around, for example, right-sizing 

the District, so school closures and consolidations, the school 

restructurings, the principal hirings, in each of those circumstances 

we have very specific plans about how we are going to engage the 

community more broadly in that. An example of that is around the 

school closings. In November, we came out with what our tentative 

recommendations were for right-sizing the District as well as the 

creation of new programs. We then embarked on about 10 weeks 

of community meetings and every night went out, talked to the different communities. And it was interesting to me because throughout that process, people often would come to those meetings and 

say, ‘‘Well, you have already made up your mind. We do not really 

believe that you are listening to us. And so we think that this is 

sort of a farce.’’ 

And I would say to them, ‘‘Well, if I had already decided which 

schools would be closed, I would have had the mayor sign that executive order the following day, and I would have saved myself several months of getting yelled at every single night. My focus here 

is to really listen to what people have to say.’’ 

And at the end of that process, we did make a significant number 

of modifications to our original plan. And it was interesting for me 

to sort of then circle back with the people who we had engaged in 

conversations with and to really hear people—a lot of people say, 

‘‘You know what? We didn’t really think that you were listening, 

but now when we see what you have finally recommended to the 

mayor, we know that you were.’’ 

I think this is hard because some people who had a lot things 

to say and maybe we did not make the decision that they would 

have liked, they said, ‘‘Well, you weren’t listening.’’ But for me, it 

is about—I cannot as a leader do everything that everybody wants 

me to do. My job as a leader is to make sure that I am hearing 

all of those voices, taking into consideration all those things, but 

18 

in the end making the decisions that I think are going to enable 

us to move this District forward in the most effective way. 

I do anticipate that we are going to have a lot of community involvement in the school restructurings as well. We have 27 schools 

right now that are in restructuring status. According to NCLB, all 

of those 27 schools will require a significant intervention before the 

next school year begins. We will have to be implementing those. So 

we have already begun that process. We have met individually 

with each principal, with each staff, with each parent group, what 

we call our Local School Restructuring Teams, LSRTs, and then 

more broadly with the community. We have done that already to 

explain NCLB and the mandates, etc., and then we will be engaging in further processes over the next few weeks as we are deciding 

finally which options we are choosing for which schools. 

Senator AKAKA. Superintendent Gist. 

Ms. GIST. Yes, we actually started our engagement efforts last 

summer when we were preparing for our transition, and the first 

document that we needed to get prepared was that transition plan 

that I mentioned in my testimony. And we engaged the public very 

extensively in the development of that plan and multiple drafts of 

that plan, which culminated in a large public event where we got 

extensive feedback on that final draft prior to presenting it to the 

mayor. And we have used that plan, which outlined our five policy 

priorities, we have used that plan as well as a number of other 

plans that are existing in the city. And I think that is also a really 

important point, that this team is not the first team that has come 

together to develop some plans for the District of Columbia. There 

are a number of plans in particular that we have used to inform 

our work right now, and one of those is the Master Education Plan 

that was developed with extensive community engagement. And so 

I think it is important to use what has been done before. 

In addition, Mayor Fenty walked throughout this entire city over 

many months, listening to the public, and used that experience and 

what he heard from the public to develop his initial education 

framework when he was first inaugurated a little over a year ago. 

And we have used those goals and priorities in the development of 

our plan as well. 

We currently have a framework, and I talked about the four 

main goals of that framework in my testimony. And we are using 

that framework that is actually up on our website right now. We 

are coordinating, listening to see what feedback people are giving 

us about that, and we will have a walk-around document for our 

plan at the end of this month, which we will begin to use to engage 

the public. 

In addition to that, our office has the unique opportunity of having the State Board of Education, which includes appointed but 

also publicly elected members, and so we have the opportunity to 

take advantage of the public engagement through the responsibilities at that State Board of Education in their public meetings as 

well as in their meetings within the parts of the city that they represent. 

We also have a number of other groups—the State Advisory 

Panel on Special Education, for example—that can help to advise 

us with specific parts of our plan. And so those are some of the 

19 

things that we are doing to engage the public in our planning processes. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much. Mr. Lew. 

Mr. LEW. Yes, we have been meeting with different groups at 

various different levels, sometimes on particular school projects, 

and other times on larger issues. We have also been meeting with 

the business sector and the relevant trade groups. We have also 

had meetings with contractors and workers. And we also set up a 

website where much of the information that we share with the 

Council or even the information we also would share with Congress, we would have on the website so people can access it and 

see for themselves. 

So we really do believe in public input. I think I have made it 

very clear that if we are not building schools that are responsive 

to the community and to the schools and to the families, then why 

are we doing this? There really isn’t any reason to go and just rebuild schools for the sake of rebuilding schools. 

So it is important that we are responsive to the needs, and I believe the transparency helps alleviate a lot of the anxieties. When 

many of us—Victor, Michelle, and I, and I think Deborah Gist, 

when we go to meetings, at least a few months ago, it is almost 

like a hanging trial or something. We walk in and before we can 

say the first word, some of the people are angry already. And I believe we are helping arrest that. The anger and the frustration is 

mostly caused by years and years of disappointments and broken 

promises. And I think the team that has been assembled by the 

mayor is very responsive to the needs of the city and its children. 

And I believe in a very short time we have actually demonstrated 

some measurable progress. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you. That particular question of 

transparency was about informing the people you are working with 

and also the feedback is listening to how they think about what 

you are doing. 

Ms. Ashby, what is your reaction to Mr. Reinoso’s response to the 

question about strategic plans? 

Ms. ASHBY. Well, everything that has been said by Mr. Reinoso 

and the other panelists here certainly is true. They each are working on their own plans, or they are working on revising plans that 

pre-existed before they took over various aspects of the school system. 

However, what we are talking about when we say a long-term 

District-wide education strategic plan, we are talking about something different. We are talking about—I think the word ‘‘comprehensive’’ was used earlier. Certainly comprehensive, but something that covers education in the District as an entity, as a whole. 

And none of these efforts by themselves do that. 

In fact, one of the things that the reform effort did was to separate the local education agency, Ms. Rhee’s DCPS, from the State 

level, which a good deal of that responds to criticisms and concerns 

from the U.S. Department of Education in terms of handling Federal grants. But in separating the functions, we now have a need 

to integrate them because they are part of a whole. And in a number of States, States have strategic plans for education. The State 

of Hawaii is one that has a very comprehensive plan that would 

20 

include all the elements that experts say one should include in the 

strategic plan. 

And it is interesting because one of the reasons for doing that is 

to provide a road map, not only for people involved in the system 

currently trying to bring about change and improve the system, but 

a road map for people outside of the system—stakeholders, parents, 

teachers, students—well, students and teachers are inside the system. But those who are outside the system, the Congress, DC 

Council, for them to ultimately know where things are going. 

Now, we are not saying that we would have expected in 6 months 

for this team to have put together such a plan. But we are concerned that maybe they do not have an intention of ever putting 

together one. The things they are doing in terms of looking at the 

particular areas and discussing things and talking among themselves and what Mr. Reinoso is doing is all great, very valuable. It 

is what would be needed to develop a District-wide education strategic plan. But also part of that is to bring in stakeholders outside 

of the immediate team, not just to comment on decisions made or 

not just to hear about plans, but to be at the ground level helping 

to develop those plans. And that is one of the advantages of having 

a strategic plan. 

One could even argue that before you would want to finalize a 

DCPS plan or a State-level plan, you would want to have your 

overarching plan and that those plans would be sub-plans that 

would buy into the goals and objectives and time frames and so 

forth. 

So there is no recipe here for what needs to go in the plan particularly. There are certain things that need to be covered in terms 

of goals, objectives, time frames, but it is something that is missing. And as I said, we believe that what has been done has really 

been valuable and everyone seems to be on the right path, but we 

are concerned that maybe that path is not going to lead to an overarching plan. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you for that, because from what I 

have been reading, it appears that GAO has been, I will use the 

word, ‘‘insisting’’ on a long-term strategic plan. And I look upon 

what the team is doing as an immediate or short-term move towards improving the system and developing a long-term strategic 

plan. 

So let me ask the chancellor, would you care to respond to that 

answer? 

Ms. RHEE. I would. I would say that part of the problem in public 

education today is that we have a whole lot of plans and not 

enough execution. And I would say that—who would be the audience for this plan? If we created the 100-, 200-page plan, in the end 

who would end up reading this plan and where would it go? Because when I walked into office in June, I came into an office that 

had binders and binders of strategic plans that consultants came 

in and literally none of these things had been executed. I would 

argue that what needs to happen in the District of Columbia today 

to improve public education is that we are taking a much more sort 

of active approach, that instead of taking the time of incredibly valuable people and staff to create a plan that will sit on a shelf somewhere, that we engage in what we are doing right now. This team 

21 

meets together at least once a week, and we talk through very specific issues at the school level, even to the extent of the student 

level. 

For example, the other week we found that there was one elementary school student in one of our schools who had missed all 

of January, unexcused absence. We immediately got on the phone. 

The deputy mayor’s office was activating CFSA, a number of other 

agencies, and together we actually found the child. We had MPD 

go out with us to the home, talk to the parents, came up with a 

plan. 

This is the kind of action that is necessary to make sure that no 

child falls through the cracks and that we are actually doing the 

right thing. And I would say that our energy and our time has to 

be spent doing real work as opposed to creating the plans because 

I think that if you look broadly, there are lots of strategic plans out 

there, and I don’t think that is what is needed in the District 

today. 

I certainly think that one of the things that we could do is once 

the Master Facilities Plan, the State superintendent’s 5-year plan, 

and my plan are all put together, that we could have some kind 

of a document that sort of outlines how all these things fit together. 

But I think to engage in a 5-year planning process overall for the 

District separately is probably not, in my opinion, the best use of 

time. 

Senator AKAKA. Ms. Rhee, let me ask you a question about the 

school consolidation plan. 

Ms. RHEE. Yes. Are you going to yell at me, too? 

Senator AKAKA. For those losing their schools, what are you 

doing to address the concerns of parents and students about the 

school closings in their neighborhoods? Can you respond to that? 

Ms. RHEE. Sure. The first thing that we did was we engaged in 

a very significant communication effort where we held multiple 

meetings for each school that was proposed to be closed to get feedback and the idea of what concerns and issues existed in the community. We heard those concerns and then made modifications 

based on that. Now that we have made the final decisions about 

which schools will be closed, we are engaging in a process where 

we will create a transition plan for each and every school separately. That plan will be created with the staff and the school community to make sure that issues of safety, transportation, staffing, 

etc., will all be addressed within those plans. 

I am very happy to say that we, in working through our budget 

for the 2008–09 school year, are already seeing the benefits of the 

right-sizing. Two, what we are going to be able to do to the schools, 

we will have many more resources available to the schools. We will 

be able in the schools that are impacted, with the students who are 

impacted by the closings, those are the schools that will have the 

comprehensive staffing model in place, which includes additional 

academic supports like literacy coaches and numerary coaches. We 

will have wellness support such as social workers, guidance counselors, and psychologists at those schools, and enrichment supports, 

so music, arts, and PE teachers. And I think that in collaboration 

with Allen Lew’s office and the facility upgrades that we will see 

in those receiving schools, that every family who is impacted by the 

22 

school closings will see that they are in a school that is much better resources and staffed for the fall. 

Senator AKAKA. Of all of that you have said in your statement 

as well as your responses, what are the top program initiatives for 

next year? And how do you see those aligning with the AYP, average yearly progress, requirements under No Child Left Behind? 

Ms. RHEE. Absolutely. So I would say the first initiative that we 

have that we believe will have a significant impact on that is the 

comprehensive staffing every single school across the District 

should have in terms of resources because right now across the District that is very inconsistent, the level of staffing that schools 

have. So we are going to be implementing this model, the staffing 

model, eventually across the District, but initially within this first 

year at the schools that are the receiving schools for these students. 

Because the comprehensive staffing model has things like the literacy coach, the numerary coach, and a number of other academic 

supports in it, we truly believe that what this will do is allow the 

schools to have the additional resources necessary to make the improvements so that they can meet AYP moving forward. 

Senator AKAKA. Ms. Gist, would you want to respond to the question about strategic plans, also? 

Ms. GIST. Yes, I definitely would. Thank you, Senator. I actually 

agree with Ms. Ashby about the importance of thinking long term 

about where are we going with these reforms efforts. And I know 

our team does. I definitely also agree with Chancellor Rhee that at 

the end of the day, what really matters are the results that we get. 

And I think that I want to emphasize that the plan that the Office 

of the State Superintendent is putting together is a District-wide 

plan. Hawaii is actually a very good example because you have 

State responsibilities in Hawaii that you have in one large school 

district. And the Office of the State Superintendent’s plan, which, 

again, is being developed using all the plans that have been developed over the past, as well as current community engagement, includes early childhood, it includes pre-K through 12, which includes 

DCPS as well as the charter schools. It also includes adult education and to some extent higher education, and our college access 

responsibilities. 

So I do think that a plan is necessary, but I think that the plan 

that we are developing is one that does tie these responsibilities together. 

Senator AKAKA. Mr. Reinoso, I am impressed by the work that 

you are doing with the Interagency Collaboration and Services Integration Commission. As you know, H.R. 2080 amended the DC 

Charter to lay out clear accountability mechanisms for the DC Department of Education. As part of the ICSIC, other agencies such 

as the Child and Family Services Administration also work to help 

improve the educational success of students. 

Since these agencies are not covered by H.R. 2080, how are they 

being held accountable? 

Mr. REINOSO. Thank you for that question, Senator. The work of 

the Interagency Commission has been structured around six goals: 

That children are ready for school, that children and youth succeed 

in school, that children and youth are healthy and practice healthy 

23 

behaviors, that they engage in meaningful activities, that they live 

in healthy, stable, and supportive families, and that they make a 

successful transition to adulthood. 

We have taken each of those goals and identified key indicators 

for the city’s performance in meeting those goals, and each month 

the commission gets together to discuss our performance around 

one goal. And so we have cycled through all six goals once, and at 

each point we have identified gaps in our performance and laid out 

short-term as well as longer-term interagency initiatives that we 

think are critical to improving the city’s performance against the 

indicators for the respective goals. And added to that basic process 

is that in some cases a situation requires immediate intervention, 

in which case we have scheduled separate or follow-up Cap Stats 

to review performance and initiatives around a specific agency’s efforts to address that situation. In other cases, we have identified 

initiatives that are critical but not as time sensitive that we will 

not revisit until we come back to the goal its connected to. 

So for example, for goal one, when we talked about making sure 

children are ready for school, one of the things that was evident 

from the onset was that we did not have any comprehensive mechanism for assessing whether children were ready for school. And so 

we then embarked on a process that included a number of agencies, 

including the Department of Health, the State Superintendent’s Office, and the Department of Human Services, to try to determine 

how we could best address that. And again, as I mentioned before, 

we are now ready to pilot a school preparedness assessment later 

in the spring. 

In other areas where there are crises, for example, the terrible 

situation we had with the Banita Jacks case, the mother who now 

is accused of murdering her four children, the ICSIC got together 

around that to do a sort of step-by-step review, reviewing all of the 

places where this family interacted with an agency to identify 

where there were missteps or where there could have been other 

efforts to support the family and to avoid them falling through the 

cracks. And we have since developed a number of initiatives that 

reflect reform opportunities that were made plain by that case. And 

that is also one of the mechanisms by which we are holding the 

agencies accountable through ICSIC. 

Finally, I think that one of the somewhat intangible but I think 

critical benefits that has come out of the commission is that there 

was a real distance in the past between these agencies and the 

education agencies. And I would say even more than distance, 

there was sometimes antagonism between these agencies. And now 

as a result of this process, the agencies are volunteering ideas of 

how they could provide support to the chancellor or to the State superintendent, and likewise, the education agencies are providing 

ideas to the other youth- and family-serving agencies about ways 

that they might help with something that one of the agencies is undertaking. 

And so, again, I think as those working relationships continue to 

improve, as we continue to hold agencies accountable through the 

monthly commission meetings and the affiliated meetings, we are 

going to see a lot more activity and a lot more innovation in the 

District in terms of supporting the whole child and the family. And 

24 

while those kinds of supports are not part of the interventions in 

the No Child Left Behind Act, I think that we will see that they 

will have a significant positive effect on our academic performance 

as a city. 

Senator AKAKA. Ms. Ashby, do you have a response? 

Ms. ASHBY. I actually wanted to move back to strategic planning, 

if that is OK, briefly. 

Senator AKAKA. That is fine. 

Ms. ASHBY. I wanted to make two points. First of all, as I said 

earlier, we are in no way trying to say anything negative about the 

actions that have taken place. Of course, a plan that is not implemented is no good, and we know that developing a plan for the 

sake of developing a plan and putting it on a bookshelf is useless. 

So we agree with Ms. Rhee that, of course, a plan has to be implemented and there has to be activity. And there has been a lot of 

action and activity, and we applaud it. 

The second point has to do with whether or not the State superintendent’s strategic plan is the type of plan we envision, and in 

discussions with Mr. Reinoso, we have been led to believe that it 

is something else. But if that is the case, because, as you know, you 

have asked us to take a longer-term look at what is going on with 

the reform, and over the next several months, if it unfolds that the 

plan is the type of plan that we envision in our recommendation, 

we certainly will be able to tell you that in the future. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you. 

Chancellor Rhee, I would like a response to what she said. I 

know that GAO has been moving towards a comprehensive longterm strategic plan. From what we have heard from you, you have 

been dealing with today’s challenges to try to fix the system so that 

you will be ready to set a solid base so you can begin to build on 

it. And what we are asking about is, are you moving to those longterm strategic plans also. So if you would respond to that at this 

point, and then I have another one on human capital, but respond 

to that. 

Ms. RHEE. Sure. And I think that what you will see is that within the next few months, and certainly before next school year begins, you will have a comprehensive 5-year strategic plan from the 

District, and ours will actually be a little bit different because we 

are using as our base the Master Education Plan that was in place 

and has been developed over a significant amount of time by the 

community. And so our strategic plan is really sort of the implementation plan around that Master Education Plan. But it is a 

long-term plan. The State superintendent is also planning on creating a 5-year plan, and then the Master Facility Plan that Mr. 

Lew is creating is actually longer than 5 years. 

So I think that what you will be seeing over the next few months 

is absolutely that longer-term thinking. I think that what we want 

to communicate about this is that I do not think in any jurisdiction 

outside of a State plan and District plans that you have another 

plan then layered on top of that. I just do not know what the purpose of that would be or what information would be included in 

that plan that would not be articulated in the plans that we are 

going to create. But I do think that one thing that we can do is 

to sit down with GAO to lay out what will be sort of the substance 

25 

of each of our plans, and I am very confident that what folks will 

find is that we are taking a very long-term view to overall what 

is happening in education in the city. 

Senator AKAKA. Does anyone else on the team want to make any 

comments on that? Mr. Lew. 

Mr. LEW. Mr. Chairman, I’d just like to echo what Chancellor 

Rhee said. We have been putting out fires for the last 6 to 9 

months. I kind of draw an analogy between someone gets hit by a 

car: Do you call the emergency EMS or do you sit down and discuss 

with the injured person whether it should be a Blue Cross Blue 

Shield plan or should it be Care First or something? And I think 

we are now getting to the point where we are above water, and we 

can focus on the need for long-term planning. And I think much of 

this is coming together. Certainly as a group, I think, we are going 

to continue to be interested in implementation, though, because we 

know the failures of the past. Many of us have been given reams 

and reams of loose-leafs of plans, plans and more plans. And we 

found that true when we go through these plans. Many of the plans 

have made sound assumptions. So, even when my office was asked 

to revise the Master Plan for School Facilities, it was not really a 

wholesale revision. Much of the information that was gathered previously was rational and sound. And we are adapting much of it, 

and we are updating it. However, some of the plans that were submitted in the past were rejected by the Council, or rejected by the 

chief financial officer because they were not affordable. So we are 

addressing cost constraints which is a major, significant issue. 

We’re asking ourselves: How do you present a plan that is not affordable? How do you present a plan that does not coincide with 

the needs of the system? 

The chancellor has asked whether we can implement the Facilities Plan sooner than later, and so we are trying to address the 

concerns of the children, but also the realities. What can the District afford? So I believe that in the not too distant future, in a few 

months, we will be able to produce some plans that will reflect on 

not only the political realities but also the financial capacities of 

the District of Columbia. 

Senator AKAKA. Chancellor Rhee, we deal with human capital 

issues on this Subcommittee all the time, and that is a huge challenge for us in our country. And we know how hard it is to attract 

and retain talented employees. 

As you restructure the personnel at the central office, what performance benchmarks and incentives are being put into place? 

Ms. RHEE. So this is a topic that is very near and dear to me. 

I spent 10 years prior to coming into this position as the CEO of 

the New Teacher Project, which was an organization that was solely dedicated to improving the human capital in urban school districts across the country. 

I am a firm believer that we can have great new sparkly buildings, we can have all the most wonderful curricula out there; but 

unless we have great people working in our school system, it will 

all be for naught. So, in many ways, our significant focus is on ensuring that our human capital needs are being met. 

I feel a tremendous amount of confidence around this right now 

on multiple levels. First, obviously, the personnel legislation that 

26 

City Council passed will allow us to begin tackling this issue at the 

central office and will allow us to ensure that we have a system 

of accountability and a culture of accountability at the central office 

first. Already what we have seen is that through the month of January, we completed performance evaluations on every central office 

employee that we have. That had not happened for the prior 5 

years. And we put in place individual benchmarks for a number of 

our departments. We have department-level scorecards, and we 

have an organizing function that is similar to the mayor’s CAP Stat 

program that we call ‘‘School Stat.’’ And so we are looking on a 

weekly basis department by department at whether or not departments are on track to meeting their goals. We are happy to provide 

more information along those lines. 

We started something very important, in December I believe, in 

what we are calling the TEAM Awards. We identified criteria 

where we said that we wanted to identify schools that had seen the 

most significant student achievement gains last year. Those were 

schools that would have had more than 20 percentage points gains 

in reading and math separately. There were three District schools 

that fell under this criteria. We used a grant that we had gotten 

from the Federal Government, from the U.S. Department of Education, to give significant awards to these teachers and the school 

staff. We actually gave $8,000 to each teacher in the building, 

$4,000 to every ancillary teacher, like counselors, librarians, etc. 

And we also gave $2,000 to every custodian and clerical worker. 

We thought this was incredibly important for multiple reasons, 

but I will add that though the Federal Government funds did not 

allow us to give the awards to the non-instructional staff, we actually found the money to do that because when you have this kind 

of wholesale reform going on in a school, it is because every adult 

is engaged in the process. 

We got tremendous feedback from the unions, from the rank-andfile teachers, from all folks, about this program. People came to us 

and asked us whether we would continue it on for next year. They 

asked us if we could expand the program to include more schools. 

So we are working diligently with our union leadership right now 

to make sure that this program can grow and that we can see it 

next year and that we can ultimately get to the level where we are 

awarding teachers based on the classroom level achievements as 

well. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Ms. Gist, to continue along the discussion of teacher quality, you 

mentioned the OSSE is developing a teacher quality strategy to 

bring in high-quality teachers. The chancellor also testified that 

DCPS is working on hiring qualified teachers. Can you explain how 

OSSE and DCPS are working together on this? 

Ms. GIST. Yes, definitely. Our responsibility when it comes to 

teacher quality is to set the right policy conditions for all of our 

LEAs, but it particularly affects DCPS’s ability to be able to recruit 

and retain the highest-quality teachers. And so it is not our responsibility to make those selections or to directly get involved with 

that effort but, rather, to support and to provide the right conditions so that DCPS can be successful. 

27 

And so, for example, one of the things that we are working on 

right now, in addition to our highly qualified teacher definition, our 

teacher certification requirements right now, on the highly qualified teacher definition, the definition that we use in the District of 

Columbia is so much stronger than the requirements that are in 

No Child Left Behind that it actually prevents our schools from 

being able to oftentimes bring on people that are genuinely highly 

qualified; but because of the way that our regulation is written, it 

means that on paper they are not highly qualified, which oftentimes can result even in the school district not being able to fill a 

position, meaning that rather than having someone who is genuinely highly qualified, a classroom may end up with a permanent 

substitute for that year. And I think you would agree with me that 

was certainly not the intention of the highly qualified provision 

within No Child Left Behind. 

On teacher certification, we do not have any specific proposals in 

place right now, but what we are doing is working with our State 

Board of Education, DCPS, and many policymakers and other partners across the country but really certainly within our community, 

to think about what do our teacher certification requirements need 

to have in order to do two things: One, to make sure that we have 

a pool of qualified people that is broad enough for our schools to 

be able to choose among in a way that allows them to be very selective, but not limiting that pool so that their selectivity means that 

they do not come out with the quantity of teachers that they need 

because we are somehow overly restrictive on the front end. 

But then the second thing is also to ensure that we are focusing 

at the end of the day on teacher effectiveness. So frequently we 

talk about teacher quality, meaning requirements on paper or certain items that are checked on a form, when really what we need 

are effective teachers who can help our children to be successful. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, the question I asked before and I will ask 

you, since you are talking about recruiting, what is the biggest 

challenge to attracting and retaining high-quality teachers and 

staff that you face? 

Ms. GIST. Well, I would actually defer that question to the chancellor with your approval, since that recruitment piece fits into her 

role. 

Senator AKAKA. Chancellor Rhee. 

Ms. RHEE. What research across the country has shown is that 

one of the things that school districts can do to ensure that the 

most qualified people are matriculating into the District is early 

hiring. If you look at the teacher candidate pool that exists, the 

highest quality candidates are looking for jobs early, and they want 

to know what they are doing for the following year early. 

So if a district is waiting until August or September to fill their 

vacancies, they are going to undoubtedly be left with people who 

do not have other options, and typically those are not the most 

highly qualified candidates. 

So what we as a district are trying to do is ensure that we are 

setting up a process so that we can hire our teachers early when 

the best quality teachers are still available and in the pool. That 

is part of the reason why we moved as expeditiously as we did towards the school consolidation process, because we knew that if we 

28 

waited until summer to have that happen, then all of the movement of the incumbent teachers would not happen until after that. 

Then we would not be able to place new teachers. 

If you look, interestingly enough, people who are interested in 

teaching in urban districts, they are not necessarily in it for—I 

mean, they know what they are getting into. And so what we want 

to do is make sure that they are being hired early. We also want 

to create the right conditions and the culture. 

I think we are in a very fortunate position right now as a city 

and as DCPS, in that we have gotten a tremendous amount of national attention on the efforts that we have going on. So we have 

been inundated with applications for all kinds of positions. As I 

said in my testimony, we have had over 500 applications for principal positions, and they are still rolling in every day. We will end 

up hiring, I think, a maximum of 50 principals, probably fewer. So 

we are talking about at the very least an application to vacancy 

ratio of about 10:1, which is a position that most districts are not 

in. It will allow us to be incredibly selective about who is coming 

in, and that is exactly the position that we want to be in. 

Senator AKAKA. Let me mention and suggest something here. 

Ms. RHEE. Sure. 

Senator AKAKA. It is close to my heart, and I have found it to 

be very important. And you used the word, and it is what brought 

it to mind. You used the word ‘‘culture.’’ In education, whoever 

teaches in that particular school, that district, or that States 

should be aware of the culture of that place because through that 

culture you can probably reach the child faster and better and with 

good understanding and relationship than if they did not. 

Ms. RHEE. Absolutely. 

Senator AKAKA. And I remember when I was in elementary 

school in Hawaii when we had books that talked about snow, I 

used to wonder, ‘‘Why are we reading these books?’’ But that is the 

kind of books they had in those days. But it was out of our culture. 

So that word you use is very important in the selection of those 

that you are looking for. 

Ms. RHEE. That is absolutely important. I think one of the mistakes that public education, particularly urban public education, 

has made over the last couple of decades is assuming that teachers 

or educators are interchangeable widgets and that you can move 

one from one school to the other school and it does not really matter, when, in fact, it matters a tremendous amount. 

What we need to do is make sure that as we are hiring people 

into schools, that they are a good fit for that particular school and 

for the culture, because we have schools across this District that 

have very different cultures, very different environments. And 

there are some educators that would work extraordinarily well in 

some of them, but not particularly well in others. So what we want 

to do is make sure we have a much more robust selection process 

in place where, if you do this early, if you can hire early, you can 

do this, where people are going out to the schools, they are doing 

sample teaching lessons actually at the schools. That is the level 

that we want to get to so that people are visiting the actual schools 

that they might be teaching or working in so that they can determine whether or not that is the right fit for them. And we can do 

29 

a tremendous amount from the District side of educating people 

about the culture that they are going to enter into. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you very much for that. 

My final question will be to Ms. Ashby, but before that, let me 

ask a question of Mr. Lew. When you were last before the Subcommittee, the Summer Blitz program to improve school infrastructure targeted 70 schools at that time. Can you give us a status update of the number of work orders closed and the number of outstanding work orders there are? 

Mr. LEW. Yes. Approximately, at the time when we began this 

effort, there was about 11,000 or so outstanding work orders. And 

we learned when we went through this process that there were 

probably as many work orders that were unaccounted for, never 

submitted to the school system to execute because of the way work 

orders are handled. Many of them were never responded to for 

years. So teachers and principals and vice principals started basically not responding—not submitting work orders. 

We learned that oftentimes, when you go through buildings, 

when they said there were 20 lights that did not work, when you 

go through the buildings after years have gone by, there is 10 

times or double the amount of problems that existed. 

So we eliminated about 10,000 work orders, cleared about 

10,000, but during that same period we gained about another 

7,000. We added another 7,000 to the roster. 

So it is an ongoing process. We think that our effort in the next 

few months is to clear this away, to get it to the point where it is 

zero. And then at that point I think we will establish a new culture 

in terms of responding to work orders and treating it in a totally 

different manner so that we will then be in a position where we 

will have dozens and dozens of trade contractors already on board, 

retained, so when a problem comes up with plumbing or electrical, 

these contractors are already on board with us, and they will be 

assigned that school year to address those problems; whereas, in 

the past, I think the school system had to then go out and do a 

procurement and then they had to find the money, and it was just 

an impossible bureaucratic nightmare. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much. 

Ms. Ashby, you and I have heard the team and where they are 

presently, what they have done, what they have been trying to do, 

what they intend to do, their expectations, directly from the team. 

I want to praised and commend the mayor and all of you, the 

mayor in particular for his deep commitment, because what you 

have done would not have happened without the commitment of 

the mayor as well as the council and others who have to make 

these decisions. And you have carried out many things that had to 

be reformed, and you are still in the process of reforming. 

So, Ms. Ashby, the first GAO person who has come forth with a 

report that I requested on the DC Public School system and your 

recommendations as to what you think needs to be done, and based 

on your short-term study, do you think the progress of the initial 

management reforms made by the mayor’s education team have established the appropriate foundation to meet their intended goals? 

Ms. ASHBY. I do, Mr. Chairman. As I said earlier, I applaud their 

efforts. A lot has been done in a short period of time. We were in 

30 

a situation, a crisis situation in the District of Columbia Public 

Schools, and they have tackled some of the critical management 

issues and other issues, done things that needed to be done and 

long have been needed to have been done. So I think they have 

done an outstanding job thus far. 

Of course, the real test is what happens with the children and 

their achievement levels, and that is long term. Things are not 

going to turn around overnight. We hope to see incremental 

progress, which I am encouraged that we will. But that is the true 

test. And I think also that in order to be successful, you are operating in a political environment, particularly in the District of Columbia because of the Federal role as well as the local culture, as 

we have talked about. And not to beat a dead horse, as they say, 

but to the extent that plans are transparent early rather than 

later, and to the extent that the people affected by the plans and 

the people who can put up road blocks can be brought into the 

process early at the ground level to help shape those plans, I think 

this team is going to be more successful. 

So I look forward to what is going to happen. I am a resident of 

the District of Columbia. I am a parent in the District of Columbia. 

And I am excited about what is going on. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, Ms. Ashby, let me tell you, your remarks 

are heart-warming and encouraging as well, and we want to give 

this team all the help we can to bring about your expectations. And 

it is true, as GAO is pressing for a long-term strategic plan, it is 

like a goal that we are all working for. And, of course, simply, it 

is a better educated child. 

Let me revert back to Hawaii. In Hawaii, I have the term ‘‘hanai 

keiki,’’ and in the culture of Hawaii, there were no homeless because families took in children who did not have parents. They call 

it ‘‘the hanai system.’’ And I am so glad to see that our country is 

coming about into this hanai system that has been used for indigenous people, centuries ago, years ago. But it is something that we 

need to restore, and so hanai keiki is to take care of the children, 

and this is what you are doing. And it is really great, and I want 

to encourage you to continue to do what you are doing and to keep 

us informed as to what you are doing. And I want to wish all of 

you well, and thank you so much for coming and responding and 

being a part of the help that this Subcommittee needs. 

I should tell you we have a second panel that will follow you, but 

for now thank you so much for coming and contributing to this. 

We have two that will be witnesses in our second panel: Jane 

Hannaway is the Director of the Education Policy Center of the 

Urban Institute; and John Hill is the Chief Executive Officer of the 

Federal City Council. I welcome both of you to this hearing. I am 

glad you were here to hear the statements and the responses of our 

first panel. 

As you know, our Subcommittee requires that all witnesses testify under oath; therefore, I ask you to stand and take the oath. 

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give the Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, 

so help you, God? 

Ms. HANNAWAY. I do. 

Mr. HILL. I do. 

31 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Hannaway appears in the Appendix on page 95. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Let it be noted for the record that 

our witnesses answered in the affirmative. 

Again, I welcome our second panel. Before we begin, I want you 

to know that although your oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, 

your full written statement will be included in the record. 

So, Dr. Hannaway, please proceed with your statement. 

TESTIMONY OF JANE HANNAWAY, PH.D.,1 DIRECTOR, 

EDUCATION POLICY CENTER, URBAN INSTITUTE 

Ms. HANNAWAY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to 

comment on school reform in the District of Columbia. I am happy 

to share my thoughts, not only as a researcher who has been analyzing education reforms across the country for almost three decades, but also as a resident of the District of Columbia. I should 

make clear that the views I am expressing here are my own and 

should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its 

funders. 

I agree with something you said earlier: Mayor Fenty should be 

applauded for his willingness to take responsibility for the schools 

and to provide a direct line of accountability. 

But success in schools will take more than governance changes. 

Reforms, including accountability close to the classroom, I think 

are necessary for better student learning. 

I work to stress two areas in my comments. The first is teacher 

quality and the second is data systems—both topics that came up 

with the earlier panel. I see these two areas as closely related in 

basic and practical ways, as I will explain. 

I lead a national research center at the Urban Institute called 

CALDER. CALDER is a federally funded research center. It stands 

for National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research—a mouthful. We use administrative data such as 

the type that Superintendent Gist was discussing this morning. We 

use administrative data in a number of States, including North 

Carolina, Florida, Texas, and New York, where we have data at the 

individual student level, performance on individual students over a 

number of years, and are able to link students with their individual teachers. So it is a tremendously large and tremendously 

rich database that gives us insight into schools that we have never 

had before. 

The findings emerging on teacher effectiveness are indeed stunning. While I think parents, principals, and other teachers have all 

known that teachers are important, it is the variation across teachers in effectiveness that has been stunning. And we are finding this 

across States, so this is not a one-State finding. I think this is 

something pretty basic. 

The most effective teachers, just to give you some idea, those in 

the top 15 percentile, are getting about a year and a half gain per 

student on tested performance. Those in the bottom 15 percentile 

are getting about a half a year gain. Now, you can imagine how 

this cumulates over time and the consequences for a child of having 

one of these excellent teachers for a number of years in a row, and 

the consequences of having one of these poor teachers for a number 

32 

of years in a row. One study, one of our studies, has shown that 

if disadvantaged students had these excellent teachers for 5 years 

in a row, we could essentially close the achievement gap. So these 

are very important findings. 

The difficult tasks, therefore, for the District of Columbia policymakers and education administrators are: One, how to get more 

high-performing teachers in the classroom (especially in classrooms 

serving disadvantaged students); second, how to hold teachers and 

schools accountable for student performance; and, third, and importantly, how to do it fairly. 

Now, the answers, I argue, are heavily dependent on good data 

systems. A big problem in education right now is that the standard 

measures of teacher quality that are built into our current hiring 

practices and pay schedules—such as certification status, years of 

experience—except for the first couple years—and master’s degrees—unless it is in the subject area that you are teaching—do 

not distinguish more and less effective teachers. 

Many efforts are underway. I think some of them were talked 

about here as plans in the District of Columbia. There are also a 

number of efforts underway across the country in various school 

districts and States to try to rethink how we identify, select, train, 

assign, and reward teachers. 

Implementing teacher effectiveness reforms, however, cannot be 

implemented on a wish and a prayer or on a hunch. It is not fair 

to school professionals and, most importantly, it is not fair to students. Reforms that promote teacher effectiveness should be undertaken, but they should be guided by sound data systems so that 

good judgments can be made. 

The important effort underway that Deborah Gist talked about 

this morning, the superintendent, is a $25 million investment by 

OSSE, by the Office of the State Superintendent, to develop a longitudinal administrative data system here in the District that 

would track students over time, that would link students with their 

teachers. I have been serving on the panel reviewing proposals to 

develop this system. We have just finished our initial review, and 

I am very hopeful about the quality of the data system that will 

develop. Administrative data systems cannot tell you everything, 

but they can tell you a lot. 

Let me go to six specific recommendations that I might make, 

and this is all based on research findings. 

First, the District should be open to teacher candidates coming 

with non-traditional teacher training backgrounds, such as the 

New Teacher Project that Chancellor Rhee led and founded, and 

Teach for America, as well as talented individuals in areas of 

shortage, such as math and science. 

Second, to provide an intensive orientation and support structure, including feedback on the performance that teachers are getting from their students, for all teachers, regardless of background, 

for at least 2 years. We know that in those first 2 years, teachers 

become more effective. It tends to level off after that, but those first 

few years in the classroom are very rich times for learning, and we 

should have support for teachers at that point. 

33 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Hill appears in the Appendix on page 100. 

We should develop school, principal, and teacher performance incentive programs based on student learning gains, and I would 

stress gains. 

We should develop differentiated pay schedules to attract the 

best teachers to the most challenging schools and talented individuals in shortage areas. Right now across this country, what we see 

is that there is a flow. When school districts hire teachers, they 

tend to be assigned more often than not to the most challenging 

schools, and they tend to leave. And when they leave, they go to 

the less challenging schools, leaving the toughest schools with continuing churning of new teachers. If we pay teachers more to be in 

these tougher assignments, we may be able to retain more there. 

Another recommendation I would make is move the tenure decision out to 5 years. In the District right now, I believe it is 2 years. 

I think with this new performance information coming online, we 

should make tenure decisions at a later period where we have more 

information about teacher effectiveness. 

This may sound self-serving, but I do believe we should encourage the involvement of objective professional research analysts to 

use these databases and to compare findings with other jurisdictions. To ensure their best use, the data should also—and this is 

important—be protected from an overly conservative interpretation 

of FERPA, which has retarded effective research in some States. 

So, in summary, when it comes to K–12 education, the research 

is showing it is largely about teachers, teachers, teachers. The recommendations I offered need much detail before they can be implemented, but I think the important thing right now is a commitment to improve teacher performance and to let decisions be guided 

by objective information about what works. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Dr. Hannaway. 

Mr. Hill, your statement, please. 

TESTIMONY OF JOHN W. HILL,1 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 

FEDERAL CITY COUNCIL 

Mr. HILL. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka. I am John Hill, the 

Chief Executive Officer of the Federal City Council. The Federal 

City Council is a nonprofit organization comprised of about 250 

business and civic leaders in the District of Columbia and focused 

on creating strong partnerships between the business community 

and the District for the benefit of District residents. I thank you 

for the opportunity to testify today regarding the performance of 

the DC Public Schools. 

The Federal City Council was created over 50 years as a way for 

the business community to be a partner in the civic progress of the 

District of Columbia. Since then, we have embraced a number of 

complex and challenging projects aimed at revitalizing downtown, 

providing affordable housing, improving public safety, and 

strengthening neighborhoods. Over time, it has become clear that 

the District’s future success depends on the health and the wellbeing of its public education system. For this reason, public education reform has been a top priority of ours for many years. 

34 

Twenty years ago, we attempted to provide a catalyst for change 

through the formation of the Committee on Public Education. This 

was done at the request of the DC Board of Education, the superintendent, and in partnership with the DC Council and the mayor. 

What we saw then mirrors what we see now. COPE brought together civic leaders, business leaders, educational institutions, and 

national experts to recommend a path forward for education reform. The resulting recommendations spanned many areas ranging 

from modernizing facilities, reducing administrative overhead, 

streamlining the central office, upgrading principal and teacher 

quality, providing teacher training and merit pay, strengthening 

reading, writing, math, and science programs; expanding the use of 

technology, and supporting at-risk children as early as age 3. 

At the time, COPE helped to establish a broad base of support 

for school reform, but due to the dire financial conditions of the 

District that developed in the early 1990s, the school system never 

followed through. Since then, our members have remained interested in education reform, although some of the momentum had 

shifted in the late 1990s toward the development of what is now 

a strong charter school presence in the District of Columbia. 

Last year, we once again became very optimistic about public 

education reform when Mayor Adrian Fenty made education his 

top priority. We are strong supporters of his effort to gain responsibility for education, and we helped raise funds for this initiative. 

We are encouraged by the window of opportunity that has opened 

for the District to produce real and lasting school reform. 

Since the mayor gained control over education, he and his leadership team have moved quickly to try to improve the system. Victor 

Reinoso, Deborah Gist, Allen Lew, and Chancellor Rhee have all 

brought a sense of urgency and action to the work before them. 

Over the past year, we have seen bold moves to hold employees 

accountable, streamline central administration, and close underutilized schools. Problems of accountability, red tape, and poor management of resources have always plagued the system, but it took 

the mayor and his leadership team to decide and to execute a 

course of action. We applaud these efforts and feel that there is a 

strong momentum to help make the difficult decisions necessary to 

advance the interests of the school children. Based on the above, 

we really judge the first phase of this reform effort a success. 

It is too early to judge the ultimate success of school reform because there is a long road ahead. We have heard criticism that has 

been aimed at the mayor and his leadership team for not communicating a grand vision or a comprehensive strategic plan for school 

reform. Our view is that you cannot develop a reasonable and sustainable plan without completing some of this fundamental work 

that is currently underway, including accurate accounting for every 

public dollar that is currently spent by the school system, assessing 

the platforms that support personnel, procurement, financial management, and technology that is needed to support this long-term 

reform; evaluating the quality of our workforce and developing 

ways to encourage excellence, support improvement, and eliminate 

incompetency; promoting and recruiting the managerial and educational talent that is needed to ensure the capacity for reform; and 

35 

fixing school facilities so that our students do not have to really 

strive to learn in environments of neglect, decay, and filth. 

These are not visionary or strategic planning elements. These are 

basic functional needs of any organization, and these elements become the nuts and bolts of reform. In the past, the District has 

been known for its tendency to plan and plan. What we need today 

is to execute on all of the planning work that has been done to date 

and to focus on building up the essential infrastructure for reform 

that is necessary for long-term success. 

These basic steps we have seen will stir controversy amongst 

those who are benefiting from the broken system that we have 

today, but these steps must be taken. The Federal City Council is 

focused on the long term. We, too, are interested in understanding 

what the classroom of the future will look like in the District of Columbia. We want to hear more about arts and athletic programs. 

However, we are under no illusion about the hard work that must 

be done before we can have a fruitful conversation about that future. 

Today, difficult decisions are going to be required to overcome 

decades of neglect. Additional resources may be needed to overhaul 

the system’s broken infrastructure, and there will be more opposition from the forces of the status quo as we move ahead. 

Over the next year, we look forward to the chancellor finally operating with the full complement of motivated and talented staff, 

which will enable her to keep focus on the classroom without compromising the administrative work that needs to be done. 

We look forward to the development of a budget that begins with 

the needs of students and builds up from there. We will look forward to the improvements in basic education and business systems 

and the processes that underlie what happens in the school system. 

Finally, we look forward to a new focus on principal and teacher 

accountability that promotes and rewards those who perform well 

and removes from our classrooms those who are not serving our 

students well. 

On behalf of the Federal City Council, I am here to let you know 

that our organization supports the reform efforts that are underway, that we expect these first years to be among the most difficult, and that we are prepared—and we know that you are as 

well—to fortify these reform efforts to be partners in helping improve education for the District’s children because they deserve no 

less. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Hill. 

To both of you, as you have heard, GAO’s central recommendation is for the development of a long-term systemwide strategic 

plan. Based on your perspective, what do you think about GAO’s 

recommendation? And what do you think about Deputy Mayor 

Reinoso’s response? Dr. Hannaway. 

Ms. HANNAWAY. I think strategic plans, long-term strategic 

plans, are clearly a good thing. The problem is when they become 

inflexible. And I think part of the discussion among the individuals 

on the earlier panel had to do with what is short term and what 

is long term and how can this organization, this District, organize 

itself so that it really becomes a learning organization itself. If we 

knew what the best plan was, if we knew how to put all the pieces 

36 

in place right now, we should just do it. I do not think anyone 

would claim that we know what all the pieces are and how all the 

pieces will work together. 

So what we have to ensure, I think, is that we have a system 

where there is objective information, feedback, where there is a 

system in which all the players are working together, and where 

there is a system that is flexible and adaptable and can learn as 

new problems arise and as successes unfold. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Mr. Hill. 

Mr. HILL. Yes, I would definitely agree with Dr. Hannaway’s 

comments. I would also say that I spent 10 years of my professional career with GAO, and part of that was actually reviewing 

the District of Columbia finances just before the creation of the 

Control Board. And I do understand GAO’s recommendation, and 

I certainly agree and understand the importance of strategic planning. 

I believe that strategic plans work best when they are developed 

and also put in cultures of action and cultures of reform. The current culture within the District of Columbia, and certainly within 

the DC Public School system when this mayor took over, was not 

a culture of action, and it certainly was not a culture of reform. It 

was a culture of stagnation, it was a culture of fingerpointing, and 

not a culture of accountability. 

I think when you have that in place initially, it is very difficult, 

if not impossible, to develop a strategic plan that can be acted 

upon, because the people who would help to develop that and to ultimately implement that are not in place to really understand the 

importance of action. 

And so I agree that it is a matter of timing. I agree with the actions that are being taken now to change that culture, and that 

once that culture is changed and on the road to improvement, then 

would be the appropriate time to really work on a strategic plan 

that could be acted upon and implemented. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Dr. Hannaway, one of the recommendations in your testimony is 

for DCPS to take teachers with non-traditional backgrounds, but 

teachers with non-traditional backgrounds might not have the required certifications. How do you propose DCPS ensure that nontraditional teachers meet OSSE’s rigorous quality standards? 

Ms. HANNAWAY. Well, as I understand it from part of the testimony this morning, some of what the certification standards are 

are being re-thought in OSSE. This is something that school districts across the country are struggling with. What we know is that 

certification, as it is now defined in most places, is not associated 

with effective teaching. So the question is how we go about selecting teachers. 

We have just completed some research on Teach for America that 

shows very promising results for Teach for America. These are individuals coming in without traditional teacher training programs; 

however, they do get certified in order to comply with No Child 

Left Behind. The hoops that you have to go through to do that are 

not necessarily the hoops that lead them to be more effective. I 

think this is a wide open area. I think the District should experiment with identifying talented people, follow their performance 

37 

carefully, build in support systems in case someone has made a 

wrong bet. 

One thing that is striking in education, Mr. Chairman, is that 

there is very little hierarchy, so a teacher who is a first-year teacher in a school district is treated the same way that a 30-year veteran is treated. Each goes to their own classroom and closes the 

door. That does not make a lot of sense. 

So you can imagine if the district were to experiment with teachers coming in in different routes that there may be mechanisms— 

and it is one of the reasons I put in the recommendation that all 

teachers, regardless of their background, should be receiving ongoing support, ongoing monitoring by more experienced and talented 

and shown-to-be-effective teachers, and they should be getting and 

their principals should be getting information back on their effectiveness. 

How to switch to a new system is not yet clear, and a number 

of school districts are experimenting with this. But what we know 

right now is that the certification requirements for the most part 

that are required are not qualifications that appear to be associated with teachers being more or less effectiveness. 

So I do not have the solution. I have a better handle on the problem, and I think the solution will come from some experimentation. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, Dr. Hannaway, what recommendations 

would you have for the OSSE in developing standards for highquality teachers? 

Ms. HANNAWAY. I would start by differentiating the teaching 

labor force. Right now, as I said, it is one standard. You are either 

certified or not certified. And as soon as you get certified, you are 

pretty much on your own and assumed to be effective. And we 

know that is not the case. 

So one can imagine having a differentiated teaching workforce 

whereby for the first year, maybe for the first 2 years, you do not 

have a classroom by yourself, that you are under closer supervision, that you get certification partly on the job on the basis of 

your performance as opposed to on checklists of qualifications that 

are achieved prior to your being in the classroom. 

So I would put down the line some of these decisions rather than 

trying to lock them in on the basis of what we know is imperfect 

information at the start. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Mr. Hill, in your testimony you recommend that a partnership 

between the community and the District Government must exist in 

order for the school system reform to be successful. How do you envision this partnership taking shape? And who do you see as the 

key players on the community side of the partnership? 

Mr. HILL. I do think that the partnership is taking place. I believe some of the key players are certainly the people who are really benefiting and using the education system. Our view—and it 

was certainly borne out through the work that was done through 

the COPE report—is that the issue of education is really one that 

needs to involve parents, that needs to involve students, that also 

needs to involve community leaders at all levels, as well as the 

business community. 

38 

Our role in the partnership is to help to provide business expertise to solve business-level problems within the school system. We 

do not pretend to be educators because, for the most part, we are 

not, and we realize that is a specialized area. However, supporting 

the school system and supporting the educational process is an important part of the reform that needs to take place. And so our 

members who really sit on top of multinational companies, as well 

as large companies within the District of Columbia, volunteer time 

and effort in helping to pull together strategies as well as resources 

so that the school system can meet the needs of the students. 

During my time at ‘‘In2Books’’—I was CEO of a nonprofit that 

was working with the District on improving literacy and teacher 

training around literacy, and one of the things that we found in 

terms of teacher training was that some of the teachers that really 

came out of educational programs in major universities were not 

really aware of some of the latest research that had been done on 

how children learn to read and the brain research about how students are stimulated in terms of reading. We believe that the ability to read was one of the fundamental predictors of a child’s success in later years in school. 

And so in addition to bringing people in with alternative backgrounds into the teaching pool, I think there also needs to be a look 

at what is happening in education programs that are getting teachers ready around the country to make sure they reflect some of the 

latest thinking and latest research around how students learn to 

read. 

Senator AKAKA. Dr. Hannaway, under the No Child Left Behind 

Act, schools are not given—and this is what is so important, and 

I know you know this is important. Schools are not given much 

flexibility in the measurements required to assess school accountability and teacher effectiveness. In dealing with underserved populations who may need non-traditional styles of teaching, do you 

see these requirements as an impediment to measuring teacher effectiveness? 

Ms. HANNAWAY. I think you are asking two questions. Just let 

me make sure I understand. One was about the way schools are 

evaluated with No Child Left Behind, and the other how they qualify the teachers. I think there has been some flexibility now at the 

department. Not making adequate yearly progress was based on 

proficiency levels. It was not based on gains. In one study I did, 

I compared the Florida accountability system, which was based on 

gains that schools were making, that individual students were 

making, and the No Child Left Behind assigning of not making 

adequate progress. And I cannot remember the exact numbers, but 

it was two diametrically different systems, where a very large fraction of the schools in Florida that were—and I can get you the 

paper on this, Senator, if you are interested—graded as A by the 

State system, which was rewarding schools for making a difference, 

for making gains, were not making adequate yearly progress according to the Federal designation. 

So a real issue with No Child Left Behind is how schools are designated as making adequate progress or not making adequate yearly progress, and it makes a big difference how that is done. When 

39 

you actually look at gains of individual students, you can see a very 

different picture than when you just look at proficiency levels. 

Let me give you an example. You can imagine a school in the 

District of Columbia where students on average had increased their 

reading levels by, say, a grade and a half, which is very large to 

get that grade and a half. But, still, only 60 percent or 40 percent 

of the students were hitting the proficiency target that had been 

specified. These are artificial targets because it is assumed that all 

children will meet full proficiency by 2012. So they are artificial 

targets. 

So rather than rewarding the school where we are seeing real 

gains in student reading, we are saying you are not making adequate progress because you haven’t hit this proficiency mark, 

which I would argue is somewhat arbitrarily defined. 

But I think that is becoming clearer and clearer to policymakers, 

and I think there are some shifts going on now in the Department 

of Education allowing States to use gain models as opposed to levels. 

When you look at highly qualified teachers, the highly qualified 

teacher provisions are basically the State provisions for certification, and those we know are not the factors that seem to distinguish highly effective and ineffective teachers. That does not mean 

that we have to throw everything out, but I think we have to get 

a lot closer picture of what it is that makes a difference. I think 

we may have to be a lot tougher in terms of who gets certified. I 

would do it partly on the basis of actual performance that we are 

able to see. And I think we probably have to be a lot tougher in 

terms of who actually gets tenure. And that may result in some 

changes in the whole pay schedule associated with teachers and 

teaching. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, I really appreciate your deep understanding out of your research of these matters and also, Mr. Hill, 

on your relationships of supportive partnerships to the education 

program, and this will be helpful to the Subcommittee. 

I want to thank you for coming and being with us today and for 

your dedication and your commitment to reforming DC’s public 

schools and its education system. There has been significant 

progress made and, indeed, some great results. So I am pleased to 

hear about the strategic plans being developed and used by DCPS, 

OSSE, and the Facilities Office in this transformational year. I 

think the entire system will do well to have a long-term strategic 

plan for the reforms; however, they need a base to put that on, and 

I think they are quickly shaping that base. I hope the reforms 

bring more than management changes. They need to improve the 

way the children of the Nation’s capital are educated. And so I 

thank you again for your contribution in this respect. 

The hearing record will remain open for one week for any additional statements or questions that Members may have. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:31 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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