Sexton recently floated a proposal that would allow Tennesseans to start teaching with nothing more than an associate’s degree—the idea being to fill teacher vacancies. The pathway would then allow them to earn a bachelor’s and eventually a master’s to become administrators. Because of course, even in this setup, the goal seems to be getting more administrators, not more teachers.
This week, the Tennessee Department of Education released graduation rates for public schools. The statewide number was a record-breaking 92.3%, up from 92.1% the previous year. A total of 69,124 students graduated, nearly 1,900 more than the year before.
Those numbers sound great—unless you live in Nashville.
For schools under the MNPS banner, the results were, to put it mildly, atrocious. The district’s graduation rate came in at 83.6%—a full percentage point behind Memphis.
Relationships drive effort and loyalty. But relationships can’t be graphed on a data dashboard or condensed into a performance metric, and that’s where the system breaks down.
The modern education machine loves data points—graduation rates, proficiency scores, chronic absenteeism percentages. What it doesn’t love are messy, unquantifiable things like trust, rapport, and empathy.
It also loves micromanagement, often as much as it loves its spreadsheets.
This year MNPS doubled down on its scripted lesson plans, demanding that every class at every grade level in every school be on the same page, every single day. Besides flying in the face of nearly every best practice ever written, it strips teachers of the flexibility—and time—needed to form authentic connections with their students.
The best teachers have always known the importance of relationships. They’ve built them instinctively, often despite the system rather than because of it.
The Nashville Public Education Foundation’s (NPEF) Teacherpreneur applications close soon – from an email:
Teacherpreneur is a professional learning experience for Nashville public school educators designed to harness teacher expertise and innovation. Teacherpreneurs participate in 5 sessions over January and February to build out ideas that help advance positive outcomes for students.
Teacherpreneurs will identify an issue they want to address, research root causes of the issue, learn about change management theory, and use design thinking strategies to create solutions that help students thrive. In March, Teacherpreneurs will pitch their ideas for a chance to win cash prizes and seed funding to pilot their idea.
Tennessee Leads appears to have been launched with the help of a group of political finance consultants tied to top GOP leaders in the state.
The address and Registered Agent of the group match that of Political Financial Management, a group that has helped the Tennessee Republican Caucus and Gov. Bill Lee.
The group says it is advocating to have 200,000 students using school vouchers and 250,000 students in charter schools by 2031.
NewsChannel5reports on a program connecting high school students with career opportunities:
High school students in Nashville got a head start on their professional futures this week, participating in a career exploration event that connected them with representatives from different fields and industries.
The event, organized with help from Courtney Morgan, brought together freshmen students to learn about various career paths they might never have considered before.
While state leaders consider expanding the state’s private school coupon program, a new nonprofit takes a bolder approach. A group calling itself Tennessee Leadsregistered with the Secretary of State as a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization with the goal of effectively ending public education in Tennessee by 2031.
The group’s goals: 200,000 voucher students (at a cost of more than $1.5 billion/year), 250,000 charter school students (there are 45,000 now), and the implementation of Direct Instruction.
It’s like every bad idea in education got together and formed a band.
So far, though, it’s not clear who the members are. Stay tuned . . .
Chalkbeatreports on improved absenteeism in Shelby County Schools:
Memphis school leaders say a door-knocking campaign and increased outreach has helped put the district on track to reduce chronic absenteeism for the first time since well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stacey Davis, the district’s director of attendance and enrollment, said in an October board meeting that almost one-third of Memphis-Shelby County Schools students were chronically absent last year, meaning they missed more than 18 days of class. But she expects that figure to drop to around 26% of students this year.
Every Wednesday, a group of fourth graders at Winchester Elementary put on black aprons and start packing up cardboard boxes with canned vegetables and mac and cheese.
The young volunteers spend their free periods prepping weekend meal boxes for around 30 Whitehaven families who line up outside the Memphis school building each Friday afternoon. It’s a routine that’s been in place since Winchester opened its food pantry in March.
Denise Wilson, a fourth grade math teacher who runs the pantry, said families typically show up once a month for help. She expects the number of families seeking food to increase in the coming weeks because of delayed and missing SNAP benefits, which are affecting one in 10 Tennesseans as the federal government shutdown drags on.
