The Status Quo is No Longer Welcome
Contributed by Memphian and former NBA player, Elliot Perry.In some ways, we have allowed our education system to sink to a bottomless pit of status quo primarily at the expense of the underserved....
TN DOE approves MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure
With the approval of their new teacher effectiveness measure (TEM), MCS will initiate for the 2011-2012 school year a new and more rigorous process to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. In prior years, teacher evaluations have been a formality...
A Great “Word” from the New York Times
Op-Ed Columnist - NY TimesIt’s Not About You By DAVID BROOKS Published: May 30, 2011 Over the past few weeks, America’s colleges have sent another class...
TN Charter Law removes cap and enrollment restrictions
In a move that most certainly will transform the public education landscape in Tennessee, the TN State Legislature voted last week to:1. Remove the cap on the amount of charter schools in TN. Currently the cap is 90 statewide. 2. Remove any restrictions...
President Obama and Memphis
President Obama was in Memphis Monday, May 16th to give the graduation commencement address and hand out diplomas to Booker T. Washington High School's 155 graduates.I was particularly interested in this quote: "So that’s why I came here today. Because if success...
Tennessee Hires Chris Barbic as ASD Superintendent
Tennessee is proposing to turn around the lowest achieving schools in the state through the Achievement School District (ASD). This is a groundbreaking approach that will capitalize on the newly created authority of the Commissioner of the Education through the Tennessee ...
Tennessee Teacher Tenure Law
Yesterday, April 12th, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed into law a new Tennessee Teacher Tenure process. Ultimately, this Tenure Law will be informed by the implementation of a new Tennessee teacher evaluation system to be approved Friday, April 15th, by the...
MCS Tenure Process demonstrates progress according to plan
Memphis City Schools announced yesterday that approximately 40 out of 499 teachers having completed three years of service were denied tenure. This represents an 8% denial rate, up from a 3% (18 denied out of 448) denial rate last year. See article here:...
Memphis Leads Nation in Education Reform through City-Wide Collaboration
Monday (April 4), Dr. Irving Hamer, Deputy Superintendent of the Memphis City Schools and Mr. Ken Foster, Executive Director of the Memphis Educational Association (teachers union) jointly wrote the following opinion published in the Christian Science Monitor of the good reform work happening in Memphis....
MLK’s “Paul’s Letter to American Christians”
Monday, April 4, 2011 is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.To remember Dr. King, I read his essay titled "Paul's Letter to American Christians" written on November 4, 1956. In this essay, MLK translates a fictitious letter written...