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More Memphis students are graduating high school than six years ago, according to the state’s most recent data.
More than 7,100 Memphis-Shelby County Schools students from the class of 2026 received their high school diplomas, up from around 6,200 in the spring of 2020. That represents a 7.7 percentage point increase in the district’s graduation rate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
MSCS still lags behind the state average graduation rate, which exceeded 93% last school year. Over 85% of Memphis high schoolers earned their diplomas, while English language learners had the lowest graduation rate, at 71%.
MSCS leaders are touting the growth as the result of several years of focus on individual student data and graduation coaches. The gains come at a crucial time for MSCS, as a looming state takeover of the district puts increased pressure on student achievement.
“It continues to show progress for all the things that we’ve been doing for many years,” Chief Academic Officer Angela Whitelaw told Chalkbeat this week. “It’s not one person in time; it’s not one area of time. It’s all the years combined together.”
The school takeover legislation, passed by Tennessee Republicans this spring, authorizes a new state-appointed board to take power from local leaders if the district meets four of six criteria signaling consistent underperformance.
While graduation rates aren’t explicitly named as a criterion, they help determine whether a school is designated as needing comprehensive support and improvement, or CSI, by the state Education Department. Also known as priority schools in Tennessee, these schools rank among the bottom 5% statewide in performance or have graduation rates below 67%. Having even one school with that designation satisfies one of the takeover criteria.
In 2020, seven MSCS schools fell below that graduation rate threshold. But according to last school year’s data, only one — G.W. Carver Career and College Academy — fell below that mark, with 23% of students earning their diplomas.
Despite improving graduation rates, Memphis students continue to lag behind their peers statewide in academic proficiency. MSCS test scores have improved steadily in recent years, but nearly three-quarters of students failed to pass state reading tests last year, compared to just over half statewide.
“We understand that we have work to do when it comes to academic progress and making it stronger and more consistent,” Superintendent Roderick Richmond said in an interview Monday with Chalkbeat. “We know that’s important as we try to prepare students to be college, career, and life ready.”
High school math proficiency on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP, has nearly quadrupled in Memphis over the past five years. But while 17.4% of Memphis high schoolers passed the math test last year, more than 30% did statewide. There’s also a 20 percentage point gap in high school reading proficiency.
Richmond credits much of the rise in graduation rates to MSCS’ investment in specialized coaching over the past four years. Each high school has at least one designated person on staff who helps students stay on track with their course load and think through postsecondary options, he said.
Graduation coaches “have the time to sit one on one with a kid as they complete a transcript audit to find out what’s happened, what’s happening now, and where you want to go,” added Deputy Chief Academic Officer Alisha Kiner.
“It gives our students a different focus on the future, so it helps make their graduation milestone more meaningful,” she said.
Those coaches also help the district regularly review individual student data and connect struggling students with additional, personalized support, Richmond said.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
