ChalkBeat TN

Nine school leaders are up for an annual statewide award, including one principal from Memphis. Tracie Thomas, a principal at White Station Elementary School, represents schools in Shelby County on the state’s list of finalists. Last year, Principal Docia...
A charter school opening next year in midtown Memphis has been awarded a $2.5 million grant through a national contest aimed at reinventing America’s high schools. Leaders of Crosstown High announced Wednesday that it’s receiving the money over five years...
Calling reading the “equity issue of our time,” Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said Thursday that Tennessee will increase its literacy rates when it improves the quality of its early education programs. The state has been waging war on illiteracy for...
by Caroline Bauman, Chalkbeat Tennessee As the newly named chief academic officer for Tennessee’s turnaround district, Verna Ruffin said one of her first priorities will be investing in their top tier teachers. “We know that we have critical work to do,” Ruffin...
Teaching and learning haven’t stopped during Tennessee’s two-year gap in standardized testing, but the scores that help gauge how students, teachers and schools are doing have definitely been interrupted. That void will start to be filled on Wednesday morning when...
Memphis school and philanthropic leaders were in the nation’s capital Thursday to hear how a local philanthropic group has raised $120 million for school initiatives in Washington, D.C. The Memphis contingent joined representatives from 16 other cities at a one-day...
The Trump administration’s wind-down of protections for some undocumented immigrants isn’t leading daily newscasts now, but it’s still very much in the minds of the nation’s students. Chalkbeat sat in recently as students at Memphis Central High School took...
The first class in Tennessee to get a free do-over on ACT testing is also the first class to push the state over an average score of 20 on the national college entrance exam, an indication that the state’s...
A new public education fellowship for people of color will spotlight issues of equity and connect stakeholders of diverse backgrounds in the quest to improve student achievement across Tennessee. Sixteen people in the first class of Mosaic Fellows were named...
When it comes to conversations about education policy, students are often the least heard. But amplifying young voices is the goal of a new program launched by two Memphis-based advocacy groups, Campaign for School Equity and Latino Memphis. "I joined the group...