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DC Public Schools Chancellor Featured on District Leaders Podcast

Chancellor Michelle Rhee discusses the ups and downs of reforming a troubled district

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Michelle Rhee, chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), was recently featured on DistrictLeadersPodcast.org, a Web site that provides a lively, informative and easily accessible forum for school superintendents and other educational leaders. In the podcast, Chancellor Rhee discusses the challenges she has faced in her reform of a school system that had gone through six leaders in 10 years.

The city's newly elected mayor, Adrian Fenty, appointed Rhee chancellor in June 2007. Almost immediately Rhee began putting her ideas to work, including creating a tracking system for delivering required textbooks, launching a national campaign to recruit principals, and making arrangements to obtain 6,300 computers for teachers and administrators. Rhee said that she has a set plan for turning the district around over the next seven years.

"My goal is that during the course of my tenure we do three main things," she said. "One, we become the district of choice. The second is that we become the highest-performing urban school district in the country. The third, and in some ways the most important, is that we close the achievement gap between wealthy white students and poor minority students."

About DistrictLeadersPodcast.org

The District Leader's Podcast team is passionate about education and deeply committed to student success. The site serves as a valuable tool for anyone interested in improving America's schools. District Leader's Podcast is sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education's Urban Advisory Resource comprising former education leaders and other experts with extensive experience in managing large school districts. It is produced by TeachersPodcast.org, a professional development resource for educators with an audience of more than 4.3 million listeners.

The podcast is currently listed on iTunes as "New and Notable" for K-12 Education. Past guests have included well-known industry leaders, including Dr. Henry Johnson, former Assistant Secretary of Education for the U.S. Department of Education; Dr. Jack Bierwirth, superintendent of the Herricks (N.Y.) School District; Dr. Rudy Crew, former superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools; and Dr. Earl Watkins, superintendent of Jackson (Miss.) Public Schools.

The only national podcast created expressly for district leaders, District Leader's Podcast is features topics that include: Making the Tough Decisions, Improving Student Performance, Urban Education, Trends in Education and Leadership.

Visit www.DistrictLeadersPodcast.org for more information.

SOURCE DistrictLeadersPodcast.org; McGraw-Hill Education