Tennessee School District News

Attorneys for the Memphis-Shelby County school board faced tough questioning during a federal hearing on Oct. 2 over the district's lawsuit challenging Tennessee's state takeover law.

New research shows that chronic superintendent turnover negatively impacts student achievement. A new Vanderbilt study shows evidence that internal superintendent promotions might be a pathway for better district...

The Memphis-Shelby County school board on Sept. 29 elected District 4 board member Tamarques Porter to lead the body as chair.

The new Memphis schools oversight board met only once, in June, before a federal judge temporarily blocked its takeover of the district.

Tennessee schools are still feeling the loss of Local Foods for Schools funding eliminated by the Trump administration in 2025. The U.S. Department of agriculture recently announced a new "Harvest to Hallways"...

After four years, Amber Huett-Garcia left her District 8 school board seat in August to become a Shelby County commissioner.

Like most of us, Emily Freitag hears a lot about generative artificial intelligence in the classroom. Much of it seems like the typical ed-tech hype. Co-founder and CEO of Instruction Partners, a Nashville-based...

Children aren’t hiding AI from us. Instead, we are hiding from AI, which is costing us the one conversation that would help them. The post I’ve visited school districts from Tennessee to NYC. American kids are not ready...

Memphis enrollment stayed relatively steady in the 2024-25 school year, increasing by only 600 students.

A Meta settlement that could direct hundreds of millions of dollars to Tennessee child mental health well-being programs is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity," one Tennessee lawmaker says.

In 2017, Alex Campbell, a sociology teacher at Elizabethton High School in Tennessee, offered his students the assignment of a lifetime: Could they solve a notorious series of cold-case murders that had stumped law...

White Station parents raised concerns about having enough laptops for online testing and virtual schoolwork.

By all appearances, she is a typical fourth-grade girl. She has long, dark brown hair and an infectious smile, and she dreams of becoming a police officer when she grows up.  But unlike most 10-year-olds, a year ago...

There is concern among Tennessee teachers about adding a significant block of testing to an already high-stake testing window next spring.

With leadership changes pending, Memphis education experts say the district needs a longterm plan to mitigate turnover.

There are currently two education accountability systems: the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); and the state letter grade. The post Tennessee is looking into changing how it evaluates schools appeared first on...

This summer, 81% of third graders at Nashville Classical East scored proficient in reading on our rigorous state test, the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.  To put these results in perspective, four years...

Tennessee released its school-level TCAP scores this week from spring 2026 assessments.

Tennessee school leaders say the state is not providing adequate funding for special education pre-k classrooms, which districts are required to offer for students with disabilities as young as 3 who live in the...

Most Memphis students will return to classes Tuesday, while after-school activities remain canceled.

Tennessee voters will head back to the polls on Nov. 3 to elect a new governor who will shape education policy for the next four years.

Join Chalkbeat and four Memphis education experts Aug. 31 to discuss how state and district leaders can help students succeed.

Shelby County Commissioners voted 7-4 to approve the MSCS budget on Monday, over a week after classes had already started.

Only two races, in Districts 6 and 8, are contested in the Aug. 6 election.

This year, Hawkins Mill Elementary is welcoming students displaced by the closure of a neighboring school in the spring.

MSCS leaders say they're focusing on boosting middle school math achievement this year after seeing gains in reading.

MSCS leaders and attendance staff are going door to door in neighborhoods with high chronic absenteeism to reduce barriers preventing students from showing up to school.

Together4Students recruits fellows ages 16 to 25 to train them to be education advocates as the state takeover of MSCS stalls in court.

Newly elected MSCS board members will take their seats on Sept. 1.

High chronic absenteeism is one of six factors that spurred the state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

The audit cites leadership instability as a key cause of dysfunction as the battle over MSCS' state takeover continues.

Results from the yearlong probe into MSCS' finances and operations come less than a month before the first day of classes.

Aspiring Tennessee teachers currently have to pass the edTPA, a portfolio-based assessment that demonstrates readiness to lead a classroom, and content assessments such as the PRAXIS, which tests specific subject...

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a state takeover board's authority after Memphis school officials said it could delay the start of the school year or even force building closures as the district...

Tennessee student reading scores are up in a critical third grade test, but students are losing proficiency as they move through middle school.

Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, sponsored the MSCS takeover bill and said it's unclear which board expenses will be covered by the state and which by local dollars.

Memphis high schoolers significantly improved on Algebra and geometry state tests this year, seeing upwards of a seven percentage point increase.

Memphis Lift gathered parents on June 20, 2026, to rally around and educate about the impending state takeover of MSCS.

One of the ‘worst offenders,’ Tennessee is home to schools that have become more segregated over the past three decades. The post Report: Tennessee schools rank high in racial and economic segregation appeared first on...