After two years of rancorous bargaining, Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the D.C. school district, reached a tentative five-year agreement with the Washington Teachers' union, which still must be ratified by rank and file union members.

Nonetheless, this agreement sweeps away hidebound notions of what union leadership will and will not agree to.  The "policy argument that pay for performance is anathema to teachers' unions has been rejected here," said Charles Barone of Democrats for Education Reform.  And "the chancellor will be able to evaluate poor teachers out of the system," said Emily Cohen of the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Here are the changes Chancellor Rhee has convinced the union to accept:

Teachers will no longer be paid solely according to the number of years served or degrees earned, but can volunteer for a performance pay system based on improved student learning;

Seniority and tenure will no longer determine where and how teachers are assigned, promoted or retained;

Principals must consent to the assignment of teachers to their schools, and will no longer be required to accept "forced placements" of teachers through the dictates of seniority rules,

Teachers whom no school wishes to hire have three options: a $25,000 buyout, early retirement for those with 20 years of service, or one additional year of employment in an administrative position before final dismissal,

Ineffective teachers will lose their job security.

In return, teachers gained base salary increases of 21 percent.  Teachers in D.C. can currently make a maximum of $87,000, but under the new system, that could rise up to $147,000.   

While private foundations have contributed $64.5 million to finance part of the new performance-pay system in D.C.,the plan calls for this private money to be gone after three years.  As reported here, performance pay in Denver and Houston began with foundation support, but are now self-sustaining, as districts have cut budgets and streamlined bureaucracy so their programs can be sustained by public funds. 

Today, April 8, 2010, marks a turning point for students across the nation.  Parents, grandparents, students and citizens can now point to Michelle Rhee's achievement to demand that their school superintendents deliver teacher contracts which give principals control over who is assigned to their school, contracts which base teacher evaluations on student achievement, and contracts which reward good teachers and ease poor performing teachers out of the classroom. 

Michelle Rhee has shown the country what strong leadership looks like.  She communicates confidence and optimism that student achievement can improve, and then actually raises student achievement in her district by holding principals and teachers accountable.  She does not offer a litany of excuses for failure, such as schools need more money, poor and minority students can't learn, or we can't have a teachers strike.  She has made raising student achievement her central value above all other values.  She Did Not Give In until she achieved her goal.