11 SCS schools earn their way out of the bottom 5 percent
The last six years of work in Memphis to improve schools that struggled for decades is gaining traction, with 11 more Shelby County Schools earning their way out of the bottom 5 percent this year.
The Tennessee Department of Education released the 2018 Priority List on Friday following a vote of approval by the State Board of Education.
The list showed a total of 82 schools performing in the bottom 5 percent. High schools can also be added to the list if they had a 2017 graduation rate below 67 percent.
Only 18 schools run directly by SCS were on the list. Another nine on the list are SCS charters, including two that have already closed, and the remaining seven will be forced to close at the end of this year.
“I think it just shows that we are headed in the right direction,” Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said.
The district currently has dozens of schools in its various turnaround programs, including the Innovation Zone and the Empowerment Zone. The iZone is an intense and expensive program that lengthens the school day an extra hour, increases professional development and coaching for teachers and pays bonuses for top teachers and school leaders to teach at that school. The efforts appear to be working. “The bar definitely has been raised over this time period, which is exactly what the point of this is, that ultimately you are digging deeper into schools that need improvement and you’re raising the floor,” Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said. “And that has happened since 2012.”
McQueen said Shelby County has “momentum” in improving low-performing schools.
Following a trend of recent years, SCS schools now make up a significantly smaller portion of the Priority List than in the past.
When the state released its first list in 2012, 69 of the 83 schools were in Shelby County.
Of those, a handful have closed, and the state now operates another 30 of those. In 2015, 45 SCS schools were on the Priority List. Appearing on the list means the school district must develop a plan to improve the school, which will be eligible for state and federal money to put toward improvements. If a school appears on the list but does not show improvement over the next three years, the state can intervene more heavily, up to and including taking over the school.
The state releases the list on a three-year cycle. No schools can be added in between, but a school can do well enough on state tests to earn its way off the list in the interim years.
Last year, three SCS schools earned their way out of the bottom 5 percent. This year, another 11 did so: ❚ A.B. Hill Elementary ❚ A. Maceo Walker Middle ❚ Douglass High ❚ Grandview Heights Middle ❚ Holmes Road Elementary ❚ LaRose Elementary ❚ Lucie E. Campbell Elementary ❚ Melrose High ❚ Raleigh-Egypt High ❚ Riverview K-8 ❚ Sherwood Middle “I expect that over the next several years we’re going to really continue our trajectory,” Hopson said.
Seven SCS traditional schools were on the list for the first time, including Dunbar Elementary, Woodstock Middlee, Robert R. Church Elementary, Criagmont Middle, Getwell Elementary, Sheffield High and Winchester Elementary.
Those schools will have the next year to plan their improvement strategies and apply for grant funding.