Tag: Tennessee Department of Education

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Memphis-Shelby County Schools Graduation Rate Improves Slightly

The high school graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools students rose 1.4 percent to 81.5 percent in 2022-23, continuing a rebound from the pandemic years. MSCS still lagged behind the statewide graduation rate of 90.6 percent. (Andrea Morales for Chalkbeat)

The high school graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools students rose to 81.5 percent in 2022-23, according to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), continuing a rebound from the pandemic years.

MSCS still lagged behind the statewide graduation rate of 90.6 percent. But the results reflected a 1.4 percent improvement from the previous year’s rate of 80.1 percent, and a big turnaround from 2019-20 and 2020-21, when the graduation rate sank to 77.7 percent.

Fourteen high schools — including six charter schools — posted graduation rates of 90 percent or higher, while 21 high schools increased their graduation rate by at least one percentage point.

“We commend our educators, students, and families for their hard work and we are proud of the gains we continue to see in our graduation rates,” interim superintendent Toni Williams stated in an MSCS press release.

MSCS officials credited strategies such as Project Graduation, in which students can earn elective credits in the evening, as well as expanded tutoring with federal stimulus money and funding to hire graduation coaches.

TDOE officials pointed out areas of improvement across the state. Twenty-nine school districts boosted graduation rates for economically disadvantaged students by five percentage points or more, while 37 school districts improved graduation rates for students with disabilities by five percentage points or more, according to a department press release.

“Tennessee’s continuous commitment to ensuring students are successful in graduating from high school on time is demonstrated in this year’s statewide graduation rate and is a direct result of the hard work of Tennessee directors of schools, administrators, and educators have done with our families and students,” Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds stated in a press release.

MSCS high schools with 2023-24 grad rates of 90 percent or higher

Charter schools are indicated by an asterisk.

*City University School of Independence, 100 percent

Hollis F. Price Middle College, 100 percent

East High, 98 percent

*Memphis School of Excellence, 96.6 percent

*Power Center Academy High, 96.6 percent

Middle College High, 95.9 percent

Germantown High, 95.3 percent

*Crosstown High, 93.9 percent

*Memphis Academy of Science Engineering Middle/High, 93.3 percent

Whitehaven High, 92 percent

*Soulsville Charter School, 91.8 percent

White Station High, 91.2 percent

Ridgeway High, 90.6 percent

Central High, 90.2 percent

Bureau Chief Tonyaa Weathersbee oversees Chalkbeat Tennessee’s education coverage. Reach her at tweathersbee@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Department of Education Investigating Tennessee Over School Mask Opt-Outs

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating Tennessee along with four other states to determine whether statewide prohibitions on universal indoor masking discriminates against students with disabilities.

In a letter to Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn, Suzanne Goldberg, the department of education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, informed that the investigation would explore if Tennessee’s policy that allows parents to opt out of school mask mandates prevents students with disabilities who have higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19.

Gov. Bill Lee issued Executive Order No. 84 earlier this month allowing Tennessee parents to opt their child out of school mask mandates regardless of school districts policy. 

Goldberg said OCR is concerned that this policy may be preventing schools from meeting their legal obligations not to discriminate based on disability and to provide equal educational opportunities. 

“The Department has heard from parents from across the country — particularly parents of students with disabilities and with underlying medical conditions — about how state bans on universal indoor masking are putting their children at risk and preventing them from accessing in-person learning equally,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a press release. “It’s simply unacceptable that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve.

“The Department will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely and the rights of local educators to put in place policies that allow all students to return to the classroom full-time in-person safely this fall.” 

Following the announcement of the investigation, Tennessee Senator Raumesh Akbari who represents the Memphis area, urged Lee to rescind his executive order.

“Gov. Bill Lee’s administration should immediately suspend its order negating local mask rules in schools until this federal investigation concludes,” Akbari said. “All our students, including those who have underlying health conditions, deserve access to safe learning conditions.”

Other states being investigated include Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. 

This comes days after a class action lawsuit was filed against Gov. Bill Lee and Shelby County alleging that allowing students to opt out of the mask mandate violates the Americans with Disability Act. 

The plaintiffs, two Shelby County families, claim that Executive Order No 84 forces parents of children with disabilities “to make the impossible decision of deciding whether to pull their children out of in-person learning or risk severe reactions or death as a result of COVID-19.” This is a “brutal choice,” the lawsuit reads. 

“Excluding children from the public school classrooms because of a disability is precisely the type of discrimination and segregation that the ADA and its amendments aim to prevent and specifically prohibit,” the lawsuit reads. 

The plaintiffs are asking the court to block the governor from enforcing Executive Order No. 84, while requiring Shelby County to enforce the countywide mask mandate in schools. 

Read the full complaint here

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A State Law Limits Virtual Learning Options for SCS Students

Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray (Credit: Shelby County Schools/Facebook).

As the number of Covid-19 cases increase in Shelby County and Tennessee, some parents want a virtual learning option for students. 

But a Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) rule stands in the way of Shelby County Schools (SCS) offering all students virtual learning options. 

The rule passed in April lays four conditions that must be met for districts to implement a Continuous Learning Plan (CLP). 

The first is that the governor has declared a state of emergency or disaster. Additionally, the emergency or disaster must disrupt the traditional operations of the school district. School districts must also provide notice to the TDOE justificating the implementation. Finally, the TDOE must approve the district’s request. 

SCS superintendent Joris Ray said Tuesday that the district “must comply with the law as we continue to push legislators to allow local control.”

Currently, the only virtual learning option for SCS students is through the Memphis Virtual School, which is open to grades 4-12 and not associated with any one school in the district. However, the application period to enroll in the virtual school has ended for this school year.

The school offers asynchronous instruction with no live teacher. The TDOE rule doesn’t allow live synchronous learning, Ray said. 

“It’s not a choice of this superintendent or this school board,” Ray said. “We’re just trying to arm this community with facts.” 

As SCS explores ways to petition the state to allow the implementation of CLP, Ray encourages parents to share concerns about in-person learning with Tennessee lawmakers. 

Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday that he does not want students to go back to virtual learning and the state has no plans of changing the rule passed in April. 

“Currently, there’s no plan that allows them to go back to virtual learning so we’ll take that one step at a time, but our hope is that we won’t move in that direction,” Lee said. 

As of last week, 449 Covid-19 cases have been reported among SCS students and teachers, according to a new dashboard launched by the district Tuesday. 

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Opinion

Report Cards Are Out for Memphis, Shelby County Schools

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Here are some first-glance observations about the Tennessee Department of Education report cards for Memphis and Shelby County school systems released Thursday.

Memphis is losing students. The system has 101,696 students this year, down from 110,753 in 2007. Memphis is losing white students — down from 10,345 in 2007 to 7,928 (7 percent) this year.

Memphis has more teachers and administrators today although it has fewer students than it did five years ago. There are 464 administrators and 6,755 teachers today compared to 359 administrators and 6,438 teachers in 2007.

Shelby County has also lost students. The system has 45,050 today compared to 45,897 in 2007. The county system is also losing white students. It has 23,916 today and had 28,290 (60 percent) in 2007.

Shelby County has more teachers and administrators too. There are 169 administrators and 2,742 teachers, compared to 153 administrators and 2,588 teachers in 2007.

There is a continuing “flight to quality” to high-performing city optional schools like Richland, John P. Freeman, Grahamwood Elementary, and White Station High School (22.9 ACT composite score). In the county, the beneficiaries include Houston High School (24.1 ACT) and Collierville High School (23.9 ACT). The state average ACT composite is 19.6.

As I have written many times before, I believe the report cards contribute to the data-driven schools culture, the flight to quality, and the fail-your-way-to-success model of the Achievement School District, which means the state takes over the worst performers and brings in hard-chargers from outside.

There’s plenty of data for one and all in the report cards. Let the comments begin.

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Opinion

Nashville Schools News Impacts Memphis and Shelby County

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If we learned anything over the last two years, it’s to keep an eye on Nashville’s influence over the future of public schools in Memphis and Shelby County. Here are three recent stories worth noting.

First up, charter schools for the middle class and well-to-do: An operator called Great Hearts Academies wants to open a charter school in West Nashville and potentially lure top students. Last week the state Board of Education directed the Metro Nashville Public School System to approve the application it had previously rejected. It’s a big win for charter school proponents, and even made The Wall Street Journal Monday.

Expansion of charter schools to the suburbs is the logical next step. The state board’s override of the local school board could give comfort to charter school proponents in Shelby County (and discomfort some commissioners). Until this year, only poor students or those in failing schools could attend charters, but a change in state law opened the way for any kid.

The Great Hearts pitch comes at a time of rapid charter school expansion in Nashville. As The Tennessean reported, “Five years ago Metro spent $4.1 million to educate 502 students in charter schools. For the upcoming school year, Metro has budgeted to spend $25.1 million for nearly 3,000 students.”

State Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, told The Tennessean he believed the state should respect the decision by the Nashville school board.

“I think it’s well known that at the time charter laws were being passed I raised serious concerns about provisions that allowed the state board to override local school boards,” Stewart said. “I continue to think the state board should not have the power to override the local board’s chartering decision, except in a case of fraud or some other similar problem. There’s clearly not that in the case.”

The second news story is about a federal court ruling on resegregation and the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution — the issues in one of the Shelby County Board of Commission’s filing earlier this month. Nashville parents Frances and Jeffrey Spurlock argued that black students in North Nashville were intentionally moved out of higher-performing schools to racially isolated, subpar ones in 2009.

Again, as reported by The Tennessean, U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp wrote at the end of an 80-page opinion released Friday afternoon that the 2008 rezoning plan “does not classify students on the basis of race.”

“While the School Board’s action caused a segregative effect, the Court is unable to conclude that the School Board adopted the plan with a segregative purpose. The plan is rationally related to multiple legitimate government objectives. Therefore, it passes muster under federal constitutional principles of equal protection.”

The third story comes from the Tennessee Department of Education which on Monday recognized school districts across the state that significantly improved student performance and narrowed achievement gaps under Tennessee’s new accountability system. At an event in Sevier County, Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman announced the 21 districts that earned Exemplary designations for the 2011-12 school year. Memphis and Shelby County were not among them.

The upshot of all of this: Local decisions, it appears, can be trumped by federal courts, the Tennessee Department of Education and Board of Education, and the Tennessee General Assembly. Thursday’s election will tell us a lot about municipal school systems but may not be the last word.