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More than 100 Tennessee schools may face new state intervention plans after receiving low scores in academic performance and improvement ratings released by the Tennessee Department of Education last week.
Under a new law enacted this summer, the schools identified as “priority” are eligible for certain consequences that could start with a state-approved improvement plan but escalate to school closure in extreme circumstances.
The Tennessee State Board of Education on Friday signed off on the state’s latest list of academic designations, which included 459 schools in the state’s “reward” category, the highest school-level designation. Reward schools increased by 22%, which Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds lauded last week.
Now, the 108 schools that scored in the bottom 5% of student performance on state assessments or graduated less than two-thirds of their students will have to implement some form of turnaround plans in the coming months.
Tennessee lawmakers earlier this year established a new intervention plan for low-performing schools as it sunset its Achievement School District, a state-run district that largely failed to improve academic performance.
The ASD also sparked significant backlash, particularly in Memphis school communities, for what critics felt were intrusive state-led intervention efforts in largely Black and low income communities.
The new tiered turnaround plan won’t necessarily feature state intervention in early stages.
Schools designated as a priority school for the first time will have the option to direct their own intervention plans or partner with a turnaround expert, though the state must sign off on the district’s plans.
If a school has appeared on multiple priority lists, intervention plans escalate. In the second tier, districts can implement their own intervention plan that includes an intervention committee made up by school board members, school employees, and parents.
The district can also choose to replace some or all school leadership staff, convert to a charter school, or transfer the school to a higher education institution. The state department must sign off on these plans.
If the department deemed a repeated priority school in need of the highest level of intervention, it could choose to either close the school or replace school leadership, if closure wasn’t reasonable for the local community.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
