Low academic performance results

By Crystal Howard
Some parents and faculty are fighting for their schools back in the Memphis area while the Achievement
School District proceeds to take over because of the consistency of failure in many different areas.
The 12 Memphis schools in Shelby County chosen to be taken over by the state have more than half
their students reading below their grade level and more than three-fourths doing math at below their
grade level.
While the two high schools chosen to be taken over by the ASD are graduating fewer than a third of
their students, parents and faculty are still making an attempt to fight for their schools back in the
Memphis area.
The ASD has begun the process to take over schools because of the consistency of failure in many
different areas. The specifics include reading and math.
Those are a few of the reasons as to why the 12 schools selected have made their way to the bottom 5
percent within the past few years.
The ASDs executive director is Chris Barbic and he is also the superintendent of the Achievement School
District. Barbic started YES prep, a high-performing charter network in Houston before coming to Tenn.
His intentions were to transform Tennessees lowest performing schools.
The ASD is a charter schools program within itself that strives to enhance the performance in schools
when they have suffered academically.
In simpler terms, that means that the state will take control of the schools chosen at the end of the few
months of deliberation and hand them over to privately run charter schools operators. Their overall goal
is to improve the schools taken over so much that they progress to the top 25 percent of schools in the
metro area.
For example, in 2013 to 2014, the ASD had better growth than the entire state. These statistics are for
reading and math and that is where students tend to suffer the most.

The Tennessee Department of Education said that while districts saw improvements across almost every
high school subject, scores remained constant in grades 3 through 8.
Malika Anderson, chief portfolio officer of the ASD said that one of the things that they have learned is
that the individual students that have been underserved have unique needs and the intervention that is
required to support them has to be as unique as the students.
When large districts are focused on centralized decision-making, sometimes the schools dont have the
flexibility that they need to make decisions that best serve their students, Anderson said.
Over a course of two months, the ASD determined which of the 85 Tenn. schools that ranked in the
bottom five percent academically would be taken over.
When schools reach this level, the entire faculty at the schools selected is forced to reapply for their
jobs. While most hope for their return to their positions, others are panicked along with parents as they
scramble to set up meetings with the district.

Its not about who is better. Just give them an opportunity to prove themselves and I can understand if
they try to prove themselves and they do not improve, Raleigh-Millington parent T.L. Murden said. If
that does not work then they can come in and make some changes, he said.
By Oct. 21, the ASD had already decided that they were handing South Side Middle School to KIPP
Memphis. It is also handing Raleigh Egypt High School to Green Dot Public Schools, which is based in Los
Angeles.
The ASD brings in an entire new staff in order to help the school progress especially in areas that they
are failing.
The other schools selected include Florida-Kansas Elementary, Denver Elementary, American Way, A.
Maceo Walker Middle School, Brookmeade Elementary, Hawkins Mill Elementary, La Rose Elementary
and AB Hill Elementary.
However, out of the 12 schools selected, three of those schools will be chosen to stay with the SCS
district next year.
The schools identified are targeted as a condition of Tennessees waiver from the requirements of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act.
However, this year 59 of the bottom 5 percent of the schools are located right here in Memphis and the
other 15 schools are located in Nashville.
As far as other subjects including Algebra, English and Biology, the ASDs growth still soared over the
states growth in high schools. The ASD had on average a 33percent increase over the state.

Parents in the community say that they believe that the SCS district can stop the ASD from taking over
their schools and others believe the takeover will just flat out hurt the schools.
Theyll lose a whole lot of kids if they get rid of these teachers, said Margaret White who had two
children graduate from Florida-Kansas Elementary and two currently attending. Thatll hurt so many
kids here.
Shelby County Superintendent, Dorsey Hopson, said that once the ASD takes over, the decision is strictly
up to them and they all go through a process where they evaluate some schools in a matching process.
Those decisions are strictly up to the ASD and we dont have the authority to change their minds,
Hopson said.
The schools chosen for the ASD are located in urban communities of Memphis and they are
predominantly black.
Barbic said the matching of the schools sets the stage for long term student success and speaks to the
great momentum around improving education in Memphis.
During the meetings to discuss the takeover, community members and teachers protested that
administrators are letting outsiders take away pieces and morals of historically black communities while
also pleading for second chance.

Chalkbeat also said that Frayser was previously an independent bedroom community in 1958. In fact,
they are still the same neighborhood that suffers from economic stress and low levels of employment as
they did 56 years ago.
Another interesting fact is that the SCS council found that all crime committed by teens in Frayser, takes
place during the school day, which could also have an impact on the performance of the children in the
school.
The ASD says that they hope to have a positive impact on the schools.
However, some parents and teachers said that the ASD taking over the schools will not have positive
effect on the schools and students.
It has been rumored that most teachers will lose their jobs and that is totally unfair as some of them
are excellent teachers, Memphis City Schools teacher Ronnie Hancock said.
The Achievement School Districts mission is to manage schools in the academic bottom five percent or
all schools in the state and advance them to the top 25 percent within five years.
Barbic tweeted, Growth is growth. Better than alternative. Acknowledge work still to do. Expect to see
even more growth next year.