Malika Anderson
The Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD) will be headed up by its former deputy superintendent Malika Anderson, following the resignation of its first superintendent Chris Barbic.
Anderson was named for the role by Governor Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen on Tuesday morning. She has served on the ASD’s executive leadership team since its founding in 2012, first as the chief portfolio officer and then as deputy superintendent.
The ASD is a state-run organization that takes over schools with scores in the bottom five percent with a goal of moving those schools into the top 25 percent. Of the 29 schools the ASD has taken over in Tennessee, 27 are in Memphis.
Barbic announced this summer that he’d resign at the end of the year, citing both what he saw as the need for a new ASD leader and his personal health concerns. Barbic suffered a heart attack in 2014.
