Memphis-Shelby County Schools could improve academic outcomes for students with a clear strategic plan, organizational stability, and a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction, according to an audit completed last fall and published in January. 

Experts at the Council of the Great City Schools evaluated curriculum and instruction practices at Memphis’ school district at the request of former Superintendent Marie Feagins. Their report found that a “recent legacy of leadership and organizational change” had contributed to “consistently low and stable” academic progress. 

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Board members failed to set a vision for a collaborative strategic plan with district administration, auditors wrote, and didn’t set Feagins up for success by using one-time federal funds on additional personnel. But Feagins’ decision to simultaneously restructure the district’s central office when those funds expired disrupted centralized resources needed by schools and hampered cohesive efforts toward academic improvements. 

“Do not let urgency be the enemy of purposeful, strategic, high-quality planning to implement the recommendations that follow,” CGCS authors wrote in the report.