Innovation in education, Scholar style

July 22, 2011

By hammersmith

1995 Flinn Scholar Becki NorrisIn Sunday’s print edition, the New York Times will examine an audacious experiment in training teachers, the Relay Graduate School of Education, which opens this summer in New York City.

One of the primary leaders of Relay is our own Brent Maddin (’94), who was snatched from the Harvard Graduate School of Education even before he could finish his dissertation. Good thing he wrapped up that Ph.D. this spring–the Times piece notes that he will soon become Relay’s provost.

What kind of teacher is Relay trying to produce? I’d be willing to bet they’d be thrilled to have their graduates lead careers something like that of Becki Norris (’95). After several years of teaching junior-high science and math as a founding faculty member at the Community Charter School of Cambridge, this month the Harvard and MIT grad began a new post: principal of CCSC’s lower school.

Congratulations, Brent, and congratulations, Becki.

Talk about a bunch of lucky kids.