Chalkbeat Tennessee
Caroline Bauman serves as Chalkbeat Tennessee’s community editor and writes about Tennessee schools. Bauman has a masters degree from the University of Missouri as a Thurgood Marshall Fellow. When she’s not working, you can almost certainly find her enjoying BBQ nachos at Central or live music at the Levitt Shell.
There are 57 articles by Caroline Bauman :
The Shelby County Schools budget includes two major parts: the general operating fund that pays for day-to-day expenses, including teacher salaries and classroom initiatives, totaling $1.04 billion; and the remaining $360 million capital budget for new schools and building maintenance.
Now that Gateway is officially closed, parents and students are left to find a new high school. Many are headed to their zoned neighborhood schools; others are still searching.
ASD chief Sharon Griffin wants to play a bigger role in the day-to-day operations of charter schools than past leaders have. She wants charter and school leaders to improve test scores, to bolster teacher recruitment and training. But school leaders say they were promised autonomy to run their charter schools as they see fit.
Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray says the district needs to listen more before deciding whether to implement his predecessor's plan to consolidate 28 schools into 10 new ones.
Yolanda Dandridge is leaving for charter operator Memphis Scholars. She will take charge of the Memphis-based charter organization’s Caldwell Guthrie Elementary School. She’s been at Georgian Hills as a teacher, assistant principal and principal since 2013.
As Memphis responds to Brandon Webber's death, some have wondered what else could have been done while he was in school to prevent it.
Sharon Griffin’s resignation as chief of the Achievement School District reflects growing tension between the state and Griffin on how to improve the turnaround district.
Sharon Griffin was the fourth ASD leader in seven years. Katie Poulos, the state’s new chief of schools overseeing turnaround efforts, said there will be a national search for a permanent replacement.
Political support for the Tennessee achievement district could be waning. After the district’s high profile leader Sharon Griffin left this month, some state lawmakers are calling for hearings on its future.
The openings and closings will bring the total number of Memphis charter schools to 82 — with Shelby County Schools overseeing 57 and the state-run Achievement School District overseeing 25 more.
A dozen people from other states answered Tennessee school chief Penny Schwinn’s request to meet in Nashville and talk about the Achievement School District. Seven years after its creation, the Tennessee district’s third leader recently left; a study found the program has not improved student achievement; and Schwinn said no new schools will join this year.
Freedom Preparatory Academy will continue operating its Westwood neighborhood elementary school as part of the state turnaround district instead of moving the school to Shelby County Schools oversight.
Tennessee’s State Department of Education, as well as the state’s two largest school districts, Memphis and Nashville, are heading into their first new school year after major leadership changes.
Only 3.4% of high schoolers in the Achievement School District met the state’s proficiency standards on this year’s math and English exams, while 12.6% of elementary students reached that benchmark.
The state-run district took over low-performing schools in Memphis and Nashville with a goal of vaulting them out of the state’s bottom 5% and into the top 25% academically. The schools – 28 in Memphis and two in Nashville – have performed no better or worse than comparable struggling schools outside of the district.
Superintendent Joris Ray said what he heard about Southwest Early College High School gave him “grave concern,” but stopped short of saying the district would investigate.
Cornerstone Prep Denver’s student achievement is the highest of all 30 schools in the Achievement School District, the district of charter schools tasked with turning around Tennessee’s lowest-performing schools.
Carnes Elementary and Northside High could be reborn as a charter school and a small business incubator, respectively, pending approval of the Shelby County Schools board.
The school board will vote on the district’s recommendation to close the school at its October meeting, as the district has to provide 30 days notice on such a vote.
More than 100 protesting students left their Crosstown classrooms Friday, and presented a letter with their grievances to the administration.
The goal of First 8 Memphis is to bring together enough money to pay for pre-K for any child in Memphis who wants to attend, especially children in low-income neighborhoods.
Southwest Tennessee Community College is cutting ties with the embattled charter school it partnered with to allow high school students to earn a diploma and an associate degree, according to a letter sent to the high school's parents.
Crosstown parents and students were told principal Alexis Gwin-Miller was no longer employed at the school. It’s not clear if Gwin-Miller resigned or was fired.
The Memphis schools have shown enough improvement to be eligible to leave the Tennessee Achievement School district next school year. Since that's never happened before, no one knows how that should work.
Alexis Gwin-Miller’s departure as principal came 10 days after a student-led protest. Dozens of students asked questions about the school’s cohort model, which was in place before Gwin-Miller was hired.