There are 467 article(s) tagged Shelby County Schools:
About 24% of third-graders in Shelby County Schools scored proficient in reading on the state’s standardized assessment TNReady, down from about 27% last year. Statewide, 36% of elementary students tested proficient.
A piece of student artwork at Southwind High School has been removed after the principal received a threatening phone call about the painting.
Terry Ross, who had served as principal at Kingsbury High School since 2014, was suspended with pay a year ago. He now will be an advisor with a new program for schools leaving the district’s most rigorous program for low-performing schools.
On the literacy front, the district is adding teacher assistants in second grade and implementing a phonics curriculum this year to ramp up a plan to hold back students in second grade if they don’t meet certain reading benchmarks in the 2021-22 school year.
The policy gives the board the ability to deny a charter school application to open in a neighborhood with relatively few students; establishes a timeline for revoking a school’s charter if it shows poor academic results; and provides schools a chance to compete for free rent in district buildings.
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.
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.
Poverty, crime and implicit bias have a devastating effect on black male students. Researchers found the educational achievement gap between black and white students amounted to "the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.”
Shelby County Schools leaders hope the bus passes will encourage students to participate in after-school activities, get jobs, post higher test scores and miss school less often.
Under a $3.7 million federal grant, the Georgia-based Baptiste Group had proposed operating a residential facility until 2025 at the former South Side Middle School, which until last summer housed a state-run charter school. But Baptiste withdrew its application after Chalkbeat started asking questions about the plan.
Joris Ray, Shelby County Schools superintendent, says he wants to change the school district's approach to educating black male students, in order to "change the face of SCS and change the face of Shelby County and Memphis."
Lin Johnson is leaving after a four-year tenure with Shelby County Schools as deputy director for finance, human resources and information technologies. He hopes his legacy reaches beyond the numbers.
The old middle-school standards had varying guidelines on addressing the six world religions taught in world history courses — Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Shintoism. Now, teaching of the six creeds follows the exact same formula: origins, key people, sacred texts and basic beliefs.
Freedom Preparatory Academy, a 10-year-old charter network, will move its Westwood neighborhood elementary school to Shelby County Schools oversight — rolling back the 2014 state takeover of the school.
Shelby County School's $1.4 billion budget was approved Thursday by the County Commission. The district had asked for a $7.5 million funding increase, but the commission did not increase its maintenance of effort funding to the schools.
“The state has pretty clear criteria for what an academic plan should look like, what an operational plan should look like and what a financial plan should look like. None of those schools really met that criteria,” said Bradley Leon, Shelby County Schools chief of strategy and performance management.
Ray was interim superintendent for about three months before the school board abandoned a national search and unanimously voted to give him the permanent position in late April.
After nearly a full workday of discussions and calculations, the Shelby County Commission on Monday approved a $1.3 billion budget ahead of the start of the 2020 fiscal year on July 1.
The pre-K funding will come from the county’s reserves and are expected to be replenished once a court case has been resolved, said commission chairman Van Turner, who did not say what case he was referencing.
Inside the homey classrooms at Libertas, there are no desks lined up in neat rows. Instead, students and teachers sit at scattered chairs and tables — or on the floor if they prefer.
DeAnna McClendon oversaw the expansion of preschool classrooms as Shelby County seeks to make early childhood education available to all low-income families.
Currently, just over 50% of children are ready when they enter kindergarten and only about a quarter of third-graders in Shelby County Schools are reading on grade level. That means half of Shelby County students are already behind before they even get started.
Parents and teachers at Winchester Elementary were largely critical of the Memphis Teacher Residency partnership — saying the teachers would be less experienced, the model hasn’t been tested, and the school had recently undergone a lot of leadership changes.
A total of 321 Shelby County Schools students will be rewarded for their perfect attendance this weekend with bicycles and helmets.
County commissioners approved a recommendation to add $10 million more than Mayor Lee Harris’ budget for school building projects in all seven county districts. That still leaves Shelby County Schools short of the $64 million it requested by about 37%.