D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to Give Keynote At Cap and Gown Convocation
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will be the keynote speaker at Trinity’s Cap and Gown Convocation on Saturday, September 29. The ceremony will be held at 5:00 p.m. in the Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports. The Convocation is part of Cap and Gown Weekend at Trinity, and the ceremony officially recognizes the senior status of students and marks the first time that seniors wear their academic regalia.
“This is a wonderful moment for Trinity, a great opportunity to express our support for the new leader of D.C. Public Schools while also showing her some of the best of our traditions in the Cap and Gown ceremony for seniors,” noted President Patricia McGuire. “Moreover, she is coming specifically because Trinity has a large population of DCPS graduates, and also a tremendous track record of work with the schools through our School of Education.”
Chancellor Rhee was confirmed as the head of D.C. Public Schools in July 2007. Prior to this post, Rhee served as chief executive officer and president of The New Teacher Project (TNTP), a non-profit organization that partners with school districts, state departments of education and other educational entities to enhance their capacity to recruit, select, train, and support outstanding new teachers for difficult-to-staff schools. Since Rhee founded the organization in 1997, The New Teacher Project has launched more than 40 programs in 20 states and attracted and prepared over 10,000 new, high-quality teachers. Under her leadership, TNTP grew into a national organization that has worked to recruit more than 23,000 new teachers for hard-to-staff public schools across the country.
Beginning her career as a teacher in Baltimore, she and her organization have been a steady presence in DCPS since September 2000 demonstrating a commitment to recruiting and supporting great teachers for this city. TNTP accomplishments in DC include:
- Dramatically increasing the number and quality of teachers coming into the District through the DC Teaching Fellows program and the redesign of the District’s recruitment and hiring processes.
- Working in partnership with the Washington Teachers Union to move hiring timelines from August to May to allow DCPS to secure the highest quality new teachers and provide veteran teachers with expanded choice as to where they teach in the city.
- For the first time, enabled DCPS to open schools for the last two years without teaching vacancies.
Rhee’s commitment to excellence in education began in 1992, when she started her teaching career at Harlem Park Community School, in Baltimore as a part of the Teach for America program. Her outstanding success in the classroom earned her acclaim on Good Morning America and The Home Show, as well as in the Wall Street Journal and the Hartford Courant. Specifically, Rhee worked with 2nd and 3rd graders and saw dramatic increases in the performance of her students.
Rhee holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
“>I have dedicated my career to improving public education in urban communities and I believe there is a unique opportunity to effect significant systemic change in the District of Columbia to ensure that all children in this city get an excellent education,” says Chancellor Rhee. “I believe this city and the school district have tremendous potential.”Cap and Gown Weekend
September 28 – 30
Sower’s Seed Lecture
September 28