Memphis City Schools Fall Short on Progress Report

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - According to Superintendent Kriner Cash, only about 16% of Memphis City Schools made its ‘Adequate Yearly Progress,’ or AYP. He said about 50 schools made improvements but it wasn't enough.

AYP expects 100% of students to meet their benchmarks for 2014. Cash said that's not going to happen, and the school district and the state need more time to meet those goals.

Some of the schools that made AYP include Hamilton Elementary and Booker T. Washington High School. But, Cash said about 94 schools remained flat or slid backwards in their progress.

He said they plan to notify parents of the latest progress, then redesign and update the district-wide improvement plan. Cash expects to present parts of the plan to the board next month.

He said he's talked with principals this summer about their efforts to boost student achievement.

“What kind of professional development, school-based and targeted, do you provide for your staff? How do you orient your students to the culture of high expectations and no excuses?”

Cash also took the opportunity to talk about the need for an approved budget and the problems of running into unreliable funding sources each year.

“I cannot be in a destabilized funding situation and continue to run a school system this large, this complex, with this many needs and expect everything to come out good in the end.”

For the past year, Cash said a comprehensive reform plan has been underway. The updated plan must be submitted to the state by November 1st.

Cash said this past year’s benchmark required 49% reading proficiency and 40% in math. The lack of strong scores in MCS is part of parent Averiette Puryear's decision to leave the area.

"I'm dissapointed because I don't feel they're doing what they should be doin' I don't like the way things are goin," said Puryear.

"We are not at a point where we are saddened at all, we are encouraged by the hardwork that is going on in our school system," said Cash.

AYP's requirements increase each year, targeted towards a 100-percent student achievement goal by 2014. But some parents say they're skeptical of AYP's ability to add up progress.

"I don't believe in No Child Left Behind; some children develop quicker than others, some of them don't," said parent Denise Maden.

Cash says the rigorous goal set for 2014 raises concerns.

"We need something to hold for a few years and show everybody we can get there and then climb again but we will not make it by 2014 to 100 percent... under their new bars."

While some may blame the recent scores on the system, Puryear says families need to study their part too.

"We as parents have to show that we're interested in our children's learning," said Puryear.

Gov. Bill Haslam announced earlier Friday that Tennessee is seeking a waiver to use its revamped education standards to measure schools instead of those mandated by No Child Left Behind after only about half of Tennessee schools made AYP under the program.

The Republican governor and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman said the federal standards no longer serve the interest of education reform in Tennessee.

Haslam said he once preferred overhauling No Child Left Behind, "but indications out of Washington are that that doesn't seem likely anytime soon."

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if the federal regulations aren't changed.