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 |  | Last week, we brought you the first in our four-part series about the proposed state intervention in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. We learned about the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill and what they would mean for MSCS. Follow along for part two this week: Overview of legislation (3/28/25) Overview of transformation efforts (4/4/25) What needs to change? (4/11/25) Overview of final law and next steps (TBD)
Recent bills filed in the Tennessee General Assembly (HB0662/SB0714) have made it clear that state leadership wants to see systemic changes at MSCS. This, however, is not the first time that an attempt at large-scale reform has been made in Memphis City Schools, Shelby County Schools, or even Memphis-Shelby County Schools. This week’s newsletter outlines the history of transformation efforts in the various iterations of our school system, including key initiatives and funding sources that have shaped the educational landscape. What lessons, if any, can we take from these past approaches?
Buckle up for a long one. |
| |  | OverviewThe “reform era” in Memphis began with the hiring of Superintendent Kriner Cash in 2008. He remained Superintendent until the merger process in 2013. Cash conducted an initial analysis to uncover “fault lines” for district transformation. These included areas of focus like early literacy, students being over-age for grade, student mobility, facilities, and what would become the largest focus of his tenure: Teacher Effectiveness.
In response to the identification of teacher effectiveness as the most important classroom factor in student achievement, the Gates Foundation developed a competitive grant application focused on transforming instruction and teaching across the country. In 2009, Memphis (at the time, Memphis City Schools) was selected as one of three intermediate-size districts to participate in the Gates’ Intensive Partnership for Effective Teaching(IP), which ran through 2015-16. Memphis received a no-cost extension to run until 2016-17. This ~$90M dollar grant leveraged local philanthropy and Gates Foundation funding “to dramatically improve outcomes (including achievement, graduation, and college-going) for students.” This transformation was to be accomplished by increasing overall teacher and leader effectiveness and by ensuring that students had increased access to effective teaching—the intermediate goals of the initiative.
The district also invested deeply in its ability to take on this transformation, hiring a team of talented individuals to lead the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Initiative, retool its evaluation framework, provide district-wide instructional coaching, increase teacher recruitment and recognition programs, and improve data and performance management capacity. These reforms were challenging, but were anchored in system changes that improved instructional quality, and increased talent across the district.
Outcomes and results: Although these reforms ran into the headwinds of the merger/de-merger in 2012-13 and the ending of the Gates investment in 2017, there was incredible progress made by the system to improve student outcomes and practices. Many measures of student achievement in areas such as reading, math, and graduation rates saw improvements, as well as TVAAS (the state measure of teacher effectiveness) improved during this period. The initiative failed, however, to achieve the double digit growth expected at the outset of the grant. The major lessons here have been evaluated nationally by RAND and reflected on by local teachers and leaders, but in general the major changes in practice have not been institutionalized by policy, culture, and funding. |
|  | OverviewIn 2009, quickly on the heels of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, President Obama announced a grant program called Race to the Top. This was a competitive grant wherein states submitted applications for funding to implement innovative educational reforms to improve student achievement, close achievement gaps, and prepare students for college and careers. In 2010, Tennessee became one of the first two states to receive the award. Reforms and innovations introducedTennessee began spending its $500 million grant to implement then-Governor Phil Bredesen’s complete overhaul of the state’s education system (which was intentionally named “First to the Top”). This overhaul created a statewide curriculum that more closely aligned with the federal Common Core standards. The state also increased its focus on evaluation, as well as recruiting, developing, and training high-quality teachers. Finally, the longest lasting effect of Tennessee’s foray into the Race to the Top is its intervention system for struggling schools. The Achievement School District (ASD) was born from an effort to quickly raise student achievement metrics, which involved closing or restructuring struggling schools, most of which are located in Shelby County.
Memphis City Schools received approximately $70 million of the state’s total allocated grant. Most of that was used to expand high-quality pre-kindergarten seats, support the teacher and leadership effectiveness programming, and helped launch the district’s answer to the ASD, the iZone.
Outcomes and resultsThe outcomes of the state’s Race to the Top initiative are, expectedly, a mixed bag. While then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has heaped praise on Tennessee for becoming the fastest-improving state in the nation in terms of state rankings of student achievement during its time implementing Race to the Top, the effects of the ASD are still being felt today, with marginal success moving the lowest 5% of performing schools in the state to the top 25%. Many of the state’s efforts to retool the evaluation system (similar to the work in Memphis) for teachers and principals have shifted from high-stakes employment and compensation measures to general compliance practices. Tellingly, Tennessee spent $44 million of its grant to train 70,000 new and experienced teachers to implement its plan. The funding eventually dried up, however, and Tennessee failed to supplant the money it received through the grant once it was gone. As leadership changed in Shelby County Schools, many of the practices implemented under the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative and Race to the Top were ended, and the transformation and rapid growth seen in the early years of Race to the Top slowed. |
|  | OverviewAs previously mentioned, the Achievement School District was a significant portion of Tennessee’s Race to the Top application, and over the course of its duration equaled an approximately $1B investment in transformation. The design of the ASD proposed that schools in the bottom 5% of student performance in the state could be placed within the state-controlled ASD, with a goal of transforming them to the top 25% of schools statewide. The vast majority of the schools that have cycled in and out of the ASD since its inception are located in Memphis. This effort has been most recently cited as a reason to not support the current state proposal in the legislature.
Strategies and interventions usedThe ASD sourced what they deemed to be “high quality charter operators” and gave them 10-year charters to reopen failing schools that had been removed from local districts’ jurisdictions and placed in the ASD. The idea was that by removing unnecessary oversight found in traditional school districts and allowing charter operators the chance to innovate, recruit talent, and meet the needs of their individual schools, student achievement could accelerate. This strategy faced community push-back, differences in the quality across charter operators, and minimal central authority to manage performance, with each school operating as an autonomous entity. Due to the pressure to quickly turn around school performance metrics, many of the charter operators decided that the quickest solution would be to replace low-performing principals and teachers, leading many schools to have more than 50% personnel turnover in a single year.
Performance data and outcomesThe results from the state’s experiment with the ASD are mostly unflattering. Several studies have found that in both the short- and long-term, effects on test scores, disciplinary actions, graduation, and attendance were essentially non-existent and even slightly negative in some cases. Though the idea behind total autonomy of each school seems to have failed, some promising models emerged, like Libertas School of Memphis, which consistently outperforms other schools in Memphis and across the state. Leaders attribute the school’s success to their individualized focus on education, as well as family engagement. |
|  | Overview In 2010, the Memphis City School Board voted to surrender its charter, thus triggering action by the state legislature to create a process for merging the city school district into the county district. The approved legislation called for a 21-member “Transition Planning Commission (TPC)” to produce a detailed plan for merging the systems. The commission’s planning included Administrative Structure and Governance, Education Services and Curriculum, Personnel and Pension Issues for Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff, Essential Services, Transportation, Security, Nutrition, and Information Technology.
The TPC worked through these issues with the contracted support of Boston Consulting Group to create a vision for a “world class education system.” Their final report identified opportunities for efficiencies, investments, and an administrative structure to achieve its vision of a merged county-wide district. This district operated for one year during the 2013-14 school year. The transition plan proposed transformation in issues such as addressing facilities; establishing a portfolio management approach for imbuing high performing schools with autonomy; the continuation of teacher and leader effectiveness efforts; provisions for expanding early childhood education; revamping college and career readiness approaches; and many other improvements. The plan drove the initial decision-making approach of the conjoined 23-member Shelby County School Board and system, but ultimately was replaced with a new strategic plan after the de-merger.
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|  | Overview In response to COVID-19, Shelby County Schools (which would be renamed Memphis-Shelby County Schools in 2022) received three rounds of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants and related relief funds between 2020 and 2022. In total, MSCS was allocated roughly $776 million in ESSER funds across ESSER I, II, and III.
Funding Usage |
| | | | Immediate pandemic response (e.g. early remote learning needs) |
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| | Infrastructure Improvements: Initiated projects to enhance air quality in schools, including HVAC system upgrades, to reduce the risk of virus transmission. Extended Learning Opportunities: Expanded summer learning programs and after-school tutoring to mitigate learning loss. Mental Health Support: Increased mental health services, providing students with greater access to counselors and social-emotional learning programs. |
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| | | | Ongoing COVID response and school recovery efforts |
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| | Infrastructure Improvements: Continued projects to enhance air quality in schools. Extended Learning Opportunities: Continued summer learning programs and after-school tutoring to mitigate learning loss. Mental Health Support: Increased mental health services. |
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| | | | Comprehensive recovery & improvement issues through 2024 |
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| | Comprehensive Academic Interventions: Implemented high-dosage tutoring and literacy programs aimed at accelerating student learning. Staffing Enhancements: Hired additional teachers and specialized staff to reduce class sizes and provide targeted support. Facility Upgrades: Continued investments in building repairs and modifications to ensure safe in-person learning environments. Technology Expansion: Further investments in student devices and internet connectivity to support both in-person and remote learning modalities. |
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| |  | What can we learn from this? |
| Transformation efforts over the last 16 years have produced some quality results (enhanced measures of teacher effectiveness and new school models), practices (expanding pre-k, iZone, etc), and established quality recommendations for improving our education system (the Transition plan, facilities, etc), but failed to dramatically improve student outcomes at scale. If the state approves a new approach, what can we learn from these past efforts and how can these lessons inform our future?
Next week we will dive into the opportunities for improvement that remain in our education system and how lessons learned from these past efforts can and should inform our future. |
|  | Recent Hearings, Meetings, & Legislation |
| | Shelby County Commission: On Monday, the Shelby County Commission passed a resolution in an 8-3-1 vote that urges the Shelby County Health Department to hold a public hearing regarding xAI. Specifically, the public hearing comes in response to xAI requesting a permit to operate five natural gas turbines in the Southwest Memphis facility. Local environmental groups and community members shared support of the resolution throughout the long meeting. Following the approval of this resolution, the Shelby County Health Department has opened a public comment period on this topic from now to April 30.
Also during Monday’s meeting, Commissioners postponed a vote on a resolution that would establish an advisory group to work alongside the Memphis Shelby County Schools board. The goal of this advisory group would be to collaborate with the MSCS board in response to the state-level intervention efforts. After discussion and questions around the process for appointing members and how the group would operate, the commission decided to push the issue to April 14th.
Finally, the Commission also approved the second reading of First 8 Memphis’ “Pre-K for All” joint ordinance between Shelby County and the City of Memphis. This ordinance would expand existing local publicly-funded pre-k seats to include three-year-olds. The City Council will take the ordinance up for a second reading next week. |
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| Upcoming Hearings, Meetings, & Legislation |
| | April 8 at 4:00pm - City Council Meeting |
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