Memphis
Memphis
In Tennessee, state legislation and education policy has driven accountability-based reform efforts in urban districts, especially Nashville and Memphis.
In 2011, the State of Tennessee formally implemented a teacher evaluation system – a move that resulted in improved math and science proficiency test scores.
The state also authorized the creation of a special virtual school district to address the bottom 5% of schools in Tennessee, with the goal of moving those schools into the top 25% within five years.
Change has also brought controversy. A 2013 merger between the Memphis Public Schools and surrounding Shelby County Schools was followed by lawsuits and plans by six Memphis suburbs to withdraw from the combined district and start their own school systems.
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Tennessee’s Achievement School District (ASD) is a special Tennessee school district created to move the bottom 5% of schools to the top 25% by 2018.
In July 2011, using federal Race to the Top funding, Tennessee became one of the first states in the country to implement a statewide educator evaluation system. That effort is detailed in “Teacher Evaluation in Tennessee: A Report on Year 1 Implementation.”
