CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD

CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD:

TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD

Imagine a hospital where the very toughest cases, the most inoperable cancers, the most stubborn infections, the most complicated reconstructive surgeries, and the most challenging diagnoses-- those are all handed over to someone who works in the personnel office and who has no medical training at all.

Now imagine that you're the state of Tennessee. You've come up with a system for identifying your most challenging and troubled schools, the schools that require the ablest educational leadership, the deepest understanding of how to make student learning happen under the most challenging of circumstances. The last person you put in charge set audacious goals for himself-- and he failed. Then he quit. On his way out the door, he said, "Hey, this turns out to be a lot harder than we thought."

And so the state of Tennessee called upon-- Malika Anderson.

Anderson has Tennessee roots, and a family background in civil rights work, from grandfather Kelly Smith (a Tennessee civil rights heavyweight with a bridge named after him in Nashville) and an aunt who was one of the first black students to integrate Nashville public schools. So when she writes, "Creating great neighborhood schools here is personal for me," we should take her seriously.

But does Malika Anderson have the qualifications to lead Tennessee's Achievement School District?

Her LinkedIn account seems to have been abandoned six years ago. But after graduating from CURMUDGUCATION: TN: A Broadie Amateur Takes Over ASD:



ICYMI: This Week's Sunday Reading

Here's some reading for your Sunday afternoon.

Jazzman-Melhorn Dialogue 



If you have not been following this discussion, here's your chance to catch up before the final round wraps up. Dmitri Melhorn made the offer to take some, um, spirited conversations off of twitter and into a greater-than-140 medium. One result has been this rigorous and data-packed discussion with Jersey Jazzman about charters. It's ballsy (in a good way) of Melhorn to guest-write for a blog that is not his home turf, and the whole exchange is a great example of how folks in the ed debates can argue humanely but without giving up an inch. Read them all:

Part I: Melhorn opens up

Part II: JJ looks at the alleged positive effects of charters. With data! And in English!

Part III: Do charters have positive effect, and who should carry the burden of proof?

Part IV: The burden of proof, and how to read the data.

Part V is up and features some pointed questions. Read up and be ready for the finale.


The Frightening Implications of School Choice

Julie Vassilatos gets to one of the most troubling parts of the charter school movement. 

The Brave New World of Teacher Evaluation

An icky new piece of tech just came out of Utah. Right now it's being sold as a training tech for teachers, but how long before it's part of evaluation.  

Charter Schools Shrink Bostonm's Vision for Public Education

Over at the Progressive, Jennifer (Edushyster) Berkshire looks at how the rise of charters leads to a failure of the Pledge of Allegiance test for schools. 

Paul Thomas on Writing

One of my favorite bloggers is Paul Thomas, and my favorite subject of his is writing (okay, second favorite, right behind comics). Reading Thomas always makes me feel as if I've gotten just a little smarter just by looking at his words, and his ideas about writing instruction really resonate with me. Here are some of my favorites:

Who Can, Who Should Teach Writing?

Oh, yeah. Hard to talk about this in some buildings, but the answer to both questions is, "Not just anybody."

Technology Fails Plagiarism, Citation Tests

The pitfalls of technological tools in writing

O, Genre, What Art Thou?

Oh, come on. You know you want to read it just for the title alone.

Writing, Unteachable or Mistaught?

I'll leave you with this one, which I think needs to be taken out and passed around every few months or so.  





ICYMI: This Week's Sunday Reading