Seattle ... model for Nashville?

A few years ago, Seattle and Houston were being held up by Vanderbilt as models for Nashville to follow. So much so that, when I was applying for the Director's position, I went to Seattle and spent a day with Joseph Olsehfske and Board member Don Nielsen. Now, neither Houston nor Seattle looks any better academically than Nashville, and Seattle seems to have lost its focus. (Via http://www.joannejacobs.com/mtarchives/014166.html.)

The really interesting thing about this is the ease with which education school academics get persuaded that some set of programs is "the answer", and always at a stage where the programs have just been implemented, everyone's excited about them, but they haven't produced anything. (Example)