CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Reformster District Meltdown

CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Reformster District Meltdown:

MI: Reformster District Meltdown

Michigan is one of several states to attempt an "achievement" school district, a special collection of the very bottom schools, run by the state. It was set up in 2011 by Governor Rick Snyder, but its continued existence is now in doubt.

None of the Achievement school districts have been successful (and "successful" is a relative word here, since "success" is often about taking weak schools and turning them into charter/turnaround business opportunities). The head of Tennessee's ASD resigned because the work was taking a toll on his health; his goal of moving the bottom 5% of schools into the top 25% has been a complete and utter failure.

But Michigan, which used its Education Achievement Authority as a blunt instrument to club Detroit schools into submission, has been spectacular in its dysfunction from the very beginning when they hired a chancellor who had lied his way out of his previous job.

Through it all, the messes have been chronicled by Eclectablog, an indispensable resource for Michigan folks. In fact, Eclectablog just collected up all its EAA coverage in one list of links, and it is quite a deep swamp to wade through. But if you want to see just how messy and dirty this kind of state takeover district can get, take some time and work through this "sad, predictable, outrageous and infuriating history."

But now things seem to have really hit the fan. After old chancellor John Covington departed under a cloud, the state brought in Veronica Conforme, who has not exactly cleaned things up. EAA awarded a $1.7 million contract to the eighth-highest bidder-- a company created only to go after that contract and run by Conforme's old buddies (the FBI is on that one). A former EAA principal admitted taking a bribe. EAA administrators have been caught using a ludicrous lie to avoid FOIA requests, which they were doing to hide the fact that EAA schools shove students with disabilities out into public schools. EAA got caught "colluding" with Detroit schools to get control of another sixteen schools.

And now tomorrow could be a Very Bad Day for the EAA.

The EAA exists by virtue of an authorizing agreement between Eastern Michigan University and the CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Reformster District Meltdown: