ChalkBeat TN

Tennessee's school districts are nearly halfway through online testing, and for the first time in three years, no major issues have been reported. About 200,000 computer-based exams were submitted Tuesday and Wednesday – the heaviest days of state testing so...
Gov. Bill Lee got an earful Tuesday during a closed-door meeting at the state Capitol with school leaders from the five cities that would be affected by his proposal to let some families use taxpayer money to pay for...
A statewide coalition of more than 50 civil rights and education advocacy groups came out Monday against Gov. Bill Lee’s signature education proposal, which he has pitched as a way to help low-income students who attend low-performing schools. The Tennessee...
With its funding expiring, a Memphis program for students coming out of juvenile detention could end soon, despite a three-year record of job placement and low recidivism. The $1.2 million federal grant for Project Stand expires this summer. The U.S....
Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature are sticking with language in education voucher legislation that would check families’ immigration status to participate, even though doing so could land the state in court. The Senate Education Committee voted Wednesday to...
Adults were the ones listening to students teach this week as Memphis student advocates shared their recommendations on how to reduce out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Six students at G.W. Carver College and Career Academy, an alternative school, worked for months...
A bill that would let teachers carry concealed guns in Tennessee schools advanced Wednesday in the legislature, even as law enforcement officers and several teachers spoke against the proposal. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams of Cookeville, is modeled...
As momentum builds for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed voucher bill, black voucher supporters in Memphis have been largely silent on the issue — or they have changed their tune. Last week, when the bill came before and subsequently cleared...
While U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos isn't convincing members of Congress to expand education choices for families, she found a more receptive audience Monday in Tennessee. DeVos joined Gov. Bill Lee to visit a Nashville charter school where students...
Sonya Thomas met a handful of fellow Nashville parents last summer, and quickly realized they all had something in common – a deep dissatisfaction with the schools their kids were attending. Thomas said they wanted to do something big and...