MEMPHIS, Tenn — On Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Education released it’s letter grades for schools across the state. More than 40 percent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools are failing or just above failing.
These grades don’t just affect the students and teachers. They also affect the investments people make when deciding where to live in Memphis.
“People will buy in certain areas due to the school system,” said Weesie Percer, Principal Broker for Keller Williams Realty. “And people will move away from areas due to schools.”
Percer has spent over 20 years in the Mid-South real estate industry and says schools drive property values for families and single home buyers alike.
“A lot of people look at school districts based upon what their resale value might be (and) the condition of the market when they get ready to sell,” she said.
With roughly 43 percent of MSCS schools receiving D and F grades from the department of education, Percer says this move will definitely affect the housing market.
“We have lots of Memphis city schools that perform very well, and the parents want to be in those areas,” she said. “Those that don’t perform well — that’s hard.”
Websites like Zillow and Redfin use a service called GreatSchools to evaluate the schools surrounding the homes they are listing.
The rating system GreatSchools uses is based off elements that include student progress or growth, test scores showing academic proficiency and college readiness for high schools.
The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) is used to create the school letter grades. It is based off factors that include student growth, academic achievement and college readiness at high schools.
MSCS has been adamant that the letter grades do not provide an accurate representation of their schools and fail to take into account things like poverty and crime.
Percer agrees.
“I think our city leaders need to get together and solve this problem,” she said. “Because it's a problem not just for the teachers, not just for the politicians. This is a community problem.”
Zillow sent ABC24 the following statement regarding GreatSchools:
“Zillow’s mission is to empower consumers with information and tools to help them make smarter decisions about real estate, rentals and mortgages. Zillow publishes GreatSchools ratings to provide parents a starting point to help them gather information about schools. These ratings should be only one of many factors used in selecting the right school for a family.”