Peter Greene Goes Walking in Memphis
Or, another failed attempt at state takeover of schools
Education writer Peter Greene takes a look at the latest attempt by the Tennessee General Assembly to undermine the people of Memphis.
This time, it’s with the schools - something Greene points out the state tried once before - under a different governor with the first name Bill.
And the ASD just kept failing. Subsequent education chiefs tried a variety of ASD heads and an array of ever-vaguening goal statements, and yet by 2024, they were still nowhere. Under four different state education commissioners, helmed by five different leaders,and aimed at shifting sets of goals and strategies, the Achievement School District never accomplished the kind of dramatic school turnarounds that its supporters aspired to.
State takeovers mostly fail. They use the wrong metric for failure, the wrong diagnosis, the wrong pool of “expertise,” the wrong motivation, and the wrong timetable, and Tennessee’s ASD, with its dogged over-a-decade unsuccessful flailing, provides one of the most thorough debunking of takeovers.
He’s right - the ASD DID fail. Miserably.
“The state has failed miserably in running schools and the state should not be in the business of being a school district, period,” State Rep. Antonio Parkinson said. “The Achievement School District came in and aggressively divided these communities and took over these schools, and then they performed worse than the schools they actually took over.”
The latest data from the Department of Education shows each of the four schools report less than five percent of students performing at grade level. ASD as a whole reports just 4.5 percent of students performing at grade level.
That’s lower than Shelby County schools, with 11 percent of students testing at grade level.
Despite this, Greene notes the state is now effectively taking over ALL of Memphis schools:
The Tennessee legislature has decided to take over the Memphis school district.
Test scores have been low-- but the district has the highest possible growth score. There will be a new board that will be in charge of everything from teacher evaluation to superintendent contract to curriculum to finances. The board includes local folks from business and politics and, of course, nobody with an actual background in education. Plus David Mansouri, head of the reformy Tennessee SCORE, with plenty of reformster credentials.
To some folks, this sure looks like a bunch of white Republicans usurping a mostly Black board in order to take over a largely Black district. Coming on top of the gerrymandering that will dilute the Black population of Memphis and likely end any Black representation in the legislature--well, it’s not a great look. But Tennessee GOP has a super-majority, and I’m not sure they give a rat’s ass how any of this looks.