Interview w/ Sam Duncan and Angie Hanlin

Teaching, Reading, and Learning: The Reading League Podcast

Angie Hanlin is a dedicated and passionate leader for change in schools and classrooms. She currently serves as the superintendent at the School District of Thorp in Thorp, Wisconsin where she works tirelessly to positively transform teacher practice and student achievement. She bases her career on the belief that ALL students can learn and perform at high levels of achievement when they are given highly engaging, research-based instructional practices and targeted specific interventions. She creates a growth mindset among her students, staff, and community and uses character education to shape and sustain a positive culture of collaboration and growth that is focused on learning.

Angie has over 20 years of experience in education where she has served in the roles of classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, instructional coach, professional development coordinator where she worked to train and coach teachers on effective instructional practices and strategies, and as a building principal at Matthews Elementary in the New Madrid County R-1 School District. She has received numerous awards for her performance in the classroom and has found a new passion for working with building leaders to promote systems to improve literacy for all students.

Angie received the 2019-2020 Outstanding Rural Administrator Award from MARE (Missouri Association of Rural Educators). She is now on a journey of literacy improvement, systems & structure work, and school district transformation with the amazing staff, students, and community members at the School District of Thorp.

Dr. Sam Duncan is the Superintendent of Schools for the New Madrid County R-1 School District (NMCR-1) where he began his career as a high school English/foreign language teacher in 1988. After serving as a junior high principal at NMCR-1, he moved to another district as a middle school principal, and then to central office administrator. He returned to NMCR-1 in 2016 to take his current position.

Dr. Duncan has led NMCR-1 through a season of heralded improvements. This upper-Mississippi-Delta school system covers 470 square miles with 7 city councils. Since 2016, the district has experienced significant improvements in literacy, school security, financial stability, co-curricular offerings, and technical skills expansion, while also cutting the percent of students with IEPs in half.

Duncan is most proud of the continued support of the R-1 Board of Education in the promotion of student literacy. He touts the ever-pressing commitment of his leadership team, as well as the tenacious efforts of faculty and staff to grow assessment-capable learners and students who “don’t just read, but read well!” NMCR-1 continues to drive toward being a well-ordered, highly collaborative, data-driven, impressively impactful, and “globally consistent yet individually responsive” Pk-12 educational community.

Additional Resources:

• Visible Learning by John Hattie
• Explicit Instruction by Anita Archer
• Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties by David Kilpatrick
• Schools Cubed
• Growth Mindset

Angie’s Picks:

• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• Collective Efficacy: How Educators’ Beliefs Impact Student Learning by Jenni Anne Marie Donohoo
• Angie’s Advice for Principals:
  • Start the work
  • Accept Where You Are and Own It
  • Give Yourself Permission to Lead
  • Never Give Up. Our Students Need Us
  • Reach Out and Ask for Help

Sam’s Picks:

• Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean
• Annual Growth for All Students, Catch-Up Growth for Those Who Are Behind by Lynn Fielding, Nancy Kerr, and Paul Rosier
• Sam’s Advice for Superintendents:
  • Protect the Process
  • Replicate Wins
  • Relentlessly Engage at the Ground Level
  • Focus on Knowledge-Creation Across the District
  • Ensure Board Engagement
  • Build Capacity to Continue the Work