Tennessee’s Achievement School District continues to struggle even as a new leader pushes for more accountability.

Chalkbeat has the story of Sharon Griffin seeking greater control over day-to-day operations in light of consistently poor performance among ASD schools.

The district promised to raise the state’s lowest performing schools into the top 25% percent academically within five years. But the district hasn’t produced large academic gains. It’s struggling to attract students and retain high-quality teachers. And the local districts in Nashville and Memphis, where the schools are located, historically haven’t collaborated well with the achievement district because it took over their schools without local permission.

In English and math exams taken in 2017, not a single Achievement School District elementary, middle, or high school had more than 20% of students scoring on grade level, according to Tennessee school-level test data released last summer. Not one of the six high schools in the achievement district had more than 7% of students scoring on grade level.

The ongoing challenges faced by the ASD could be a result of mission creep or simply a lack of any real accountability.

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