Organic Learning

I got an email today announcing that there is a new Chief Academic Officer in our district. Her name is Dr. Judith Elliott, former Assistant Superintendent for School Support Services in the Long Beach Unified School District and former Chief of Teaching and Learning (what a great title) for the Portland Public Schools.

What were the first things I did when I heard this news? First, of course, I googled her. From following some of the links, I find that she is a strong advocate for Response to Intervention (RTI), which supports a three-tiered approach to intervention for at risk students. There are several articles, an interview, a page selling her books, and even a YouTube video of Dr. Elliott, talking about intervention and addressing the needs of all students. She also has served as an advisory council chair of the RTI Action Network.

I searched on Google News and Technorati for her, but to no avail. A Wikipedia search brought up another Judith Elliott, from Canada. The announcement has not yet appeared on LAUSD’s Website either,  although there’s several articles about the budget cuts. I did find a website at http://judyelliott.com/ It looks like it’s been under construction for quite some time. On EasyWhoIs, a site that allows you to look up who has registered a domain, it appears that a Judy Elliott registered that domain. I wonder if this is the same Judy Elliott. Maybe she’ll start a blog some day.

Now all I need to do is find out what a Chief Academic Officer does. Learning about the many positions at the top is quite a job in itself. I hope good things will come from this appointment.