The biggest difference – and most costly for parents – is that traditional vouchers would have covered all tuition costs. Education savings accounts would not necessarily cover all of a student’s private-school tuition.

The coalition, called TN Teachers United, launched last week after meeting with two teachers who helped organize statewide walkouts last year in Arizona and West Virginia.

Kirby Middle's principal, Marian Williams, credits the reflection room and an incentives program for students’ good behavior as aids to a more empathetic approach to discipline this year.

The Memphis mayor’s authority over public schools is limited, since the city school board voted in 2010 to dissolve the city district, which led to a merger of the city and county school systems. But the city mayor isn’t without power to steer conversation and dictate spending. 

Gov. Bill Lee said his proposed education savings accounts would not siphon money from public schools: “For every dollar that goes with a child that leaves a school or a district, that district will receive a fill-in-the-gap amount of equal amount.”

Supporters and opponents of Lee's proposal for education savings accounts are mobilizing for likely the biggest battle of the legislative session.

University of Memphis students can gain protection from tuition increases if they graduate within four years under a Guaranteed Tuition Rate plan approved by trustees Wednesday.

A proposed policy would require Shelby County Schools' 8,700 second-graders to meet eight of 12 points the district tracks to be promoted to third grade. 

The state set an April 11 deadline for vendors' bids to administer the TNReady program. The final contract is to be signed by June 13.

Charter schools were the only education topic addressed when the governor’s office released advance excerpts of Lee’s State of the State address.

Lee’s spending plan will provide Tennesseans with their first detailed look at the first-year policies and priorities of the new governor. He offered few specifics on the campaign trail as he promised education improvements, better jobs, and safer neighborhoods.

The board resolution made the case that free bus passes students would help reduce absences in a school district where most students live in poverty and are less likely to have access to a car or enough money for public transit. 

The university aims for a third of students to be children of University of Memphis full-time faculty and staff, a third to live within two miles of the school, and a third to be from elsewhere in the district. 

State testing is the linchpin of Tennessee’s system for evaluating student achievement. But as technical failures have marred the rollout in recent years, educators have clamored for limits on how the scores are used.

About 80,000 students were supposed to participate in a statewide online testing simulation. A disappointing turnout Feb. 21 means a second simulation has to be scheduled.

Under new guidelines being developed, Shelby County Schools board members would be able to systematically slow growth of Memphis charter schools. 

The new University of Memphis Middle School would stretch the concept of learning for younger public school students, if the Shelby County Schools board approves the plan Tuesday. 

A new study confirmed that low-performing teachers in grades 3 through 5 were more likely to be reassigned to non-tested early grades than their more effective colleagues.

With an opportunity to open its own middle school, the University of Memphis is throwing convention to the wind, creating a fresh approach for preparing preteens for college and jobs, even before high school.   

Ten people are seeking appointment to an interim seat on the Shelby County Schools board. The District 2 seat opened with the departure of Teresa Jones to take an appointment as municipal court judge. 

This teacher learned a valuable lesson when his favorite student didn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.  

Tennessee education commissioner Penny Schwinn makes stops at two Shelby County High Schools just days after taking the state's top education post.

Tennessee’s teacher training programs improved or maintained their scores on a report card released Friday, even as the number of would-be educators they graduated dipped for a third straight year.

Less than one month after Joris Ray was named interim leader of Shelby County Schools, he has added two cabinet-level positions and replaced the district’s chief of staff.

Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday he wants to expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics offerings in Tennessee’s K-12 schools — and he’ll set aside $4 million in his proposed budget to pay for his so-called Future Workforce Initiative.