MEMPHIS, Tenn. —
The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 20222-2023 School Letter Grades for nearly 1,700 schools statewide on Friday, December 21, 2023.
The A-F letter grades are based on achievement, growth, and for high schools, college or career readiness. Arlington Community Schools and Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) are pushing back against the grading system.
In 2016, a law was passed that required TDOE to create a letter grading system to make sure schools are meeting state requirements. This is the first school year that system was used.
MSCS is calling for a more comprehensive system. Interim Superintendent Toni Williams argues that it doesn’t include key factors like graduation rates, attendance or poverty.
"A single letter grade based solely and largely on one week of standardized testing tells really only one part of the story. Many of our students face challenges outside of the classroom. The system doesn't take into account the poverty. The lack of kindergarten readiness to the impact of community violence. That's one discussion that we've had," said Williams.
Of the 198 MSCS schools graded, only nine received an "A." Almost all of those schools are near Midtown or East Memphis. Meanwhile, 30 MSCS schools received "Bs," 72 received "Cs," 44 received "Ds," and 43 received "Fs." MSCS’s Executive Director of Planning & Accountability, William White, said the district will continue pushing students to succeed regardless of the letter grades.
"We have our data. We know where our kids are struggling. We've always taken that very seriously and we're always working very very hard to improve the lives of those children and for them to continue to grow," said White.
TDOE did not grade some schools due to a lack of sufficient test data.