This first episode of Chasing Bailey sketches the four-year story of an effort to transform a “failing” public school in Nashville, TN, only to have success turn sour when the district office determined that the underserved students at the school -- mostly poor and mostly Black -- had to be moved out of the place that had become their educational home...

This second episode of Chasing Bailey explores the first of several characteristics that marked the practice of education at Bailey:  that is, teaming.  Content teachers, special educators, teacher leaders, paraprofessionals, and residents learning to teach collaborated on both grade level and content-focused teams to encourage the growth and development of every scholar...

The third episode of Chasing Bailey looks at how teacher leadership multiplies the point and power of teams in schools.  Four teacher leaders – Kelly Aldridge Boyd , LeKeisha Harding, Whitney Bradley Weathers, and Lindsey Nelson -- describe their experience and outline how they grew into their roles... 

 In this fourth episode of Chasing Bailey, we turn to the critical issue of culture for learning and growth.  We think about the transformation that supported the Bailey shift from “persistently dangerous” and academically unmoored in 2011 to solidly “Satisfactory” on the district’s School Assessment Measure in 2015...

In this fifth episode of Chasing Bailey, we consider the question of curriculum.  What was the curriculum that powered academic success at Bailey and how did it come to be?  

Have we unintentionally reinforced a stereotype about Black and white teachers in the last two episodes?  In a majority Black school, do the Black teachers carry the social-emotional weight (and expertise), while the white teachers are the instructional and academic experts? 

The question of a school’s “success” is the thread underlying this entire podcast – and the specific target we aim at today by listening to the voice and experience of four representative Bailey students.  Listen to four Bailey students speak for themselves about why they were there, what they remember, and how they have made their way – with stories still very much being told. 

It’s been a minute since our last episode … sorry to keep you waiting to hear just why Bailey on Greenwood Avenue was shut down, but I couldn’t explain how Bailey closed without the help of Principal Christian Sawyer and Dr. Alan Coverstone who was the Director of the iZone in MNPS and the administrator who got the ball rolling for the Bailey transformation – and those two guys are tough to pin down.