by Dr. Kriner Cash
Special to the Tri-State Defender

Dr. Kriner Cash, Superintendent, Memphis City Schools

Last week, the Tennessee State Department of Education released its 2009 State Report Card. The report card is a summary of performance for every school and school district in Tennessee for the 2008-09 school year. As you may know, Memphis City Schools (MCS) received a D in Math and Reading/Language Arts and an F in Social Studies and Science. On the state’s Value Added scores, MCS scored at the state’s average C for Math, Science, and Social Studies, but below average D in Reading/Language Arts.  

It is important that the citizens of Memphis understand that these results are by no means acceptable to me or to our Board of Commissioners. I trust that these results are not acceptable to our community as well.  

What you must know, however, is that the academic standards and expectations of our students are being raised by the federal government and by the State of Tennessee. The 2008-09 Report Card reflects the initial phase of this recalculation. Our comprehensive reform agenda, described in the August 6-12 edition of the Tri-State Defender, is intent on preparing students to meet and exceed the new standards. Clearly, we must significantly reduce the number of students that fail to meet standards, fail to graduate on time, fail to achieve an ACT score of 19 or higher, and fail to take Advanced Placement courses before graduation.  

We have an opportunity to transform MCS into one of the most successful urban districts in the country. To do so, however, we must abandon practices that have not worked and embrace sound, strategic, wisdom-based approaches.

Here again, is a synopsis of our plan to meet the new demands of higher expectations and the context of urgency for our work:

We are committed to a laser-like focus on 1) a pre-K to third grade learning continuum that gets students off to a strong start in their school careers; 2) fourth grade, where many students, especially African-American boys, disengage from school; 3) increased attention to Algebra in the fifth grade as the state rolls out rigorous math standards into elementary grades; 4) middle school initiatives that engage students in positive social networks at the time they experience the developmental need for belonging; 5) implementing high school redesign plans in 14 “weak promoting” high schools that will be organized around career-themed academies; and 6) the creation of a “University Corridor” in feeder patterns in the heart of the city.

Together these components create a “Cradle to Career Pipeline” of excellence in education for Memphis.

At the heart of our efforts, we know that effective teachers have always been essential to student success – and never more so than in the current context of higher state standards and an increasingly competitive global economy. Let me be clear. We have many excellent teachers in MCS, but with a school system this large, and a population with the challenges they face, we need more excellent teachers and we need them spread equitably across the system.  

To that end, we are committed to providing every student with effective teachers. In the very near future, we hope to hear if we have been selected to engage in an intensive multi-year partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But with or without the Gates grant, our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative (TEI) will be implemented because it is the right strategy for such an important time as this. The essence of the work is clear: we simply must improve opportunities for students to succeed by better selecting, training, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers. Our students deserve the very best teachers we can provide them and our teachers deserve the most support we can give them to continue growing in their effectiveness.  

In addition, and equally important, our students need stronger parent, family, and community support to succeed in a competitive global economy, our students require a stable nurturing relationship with a strong parent or caregiver at birth.

He or she further requires a parent who understands the developmental needs of children and helps them develop confidence, competence, self-esteem, and motivation in the early years.  In grades four through eight the child needs a strong adult figure other than a parent in her life; and, in grades nine through 12, s/he must engage in a variety of community and civic organizations that provides service to others, develop a graduation and career plan, and be supported to graduate from high school.

Moreover, our students will also need significantly more time spent on academic learning. Between the ages of eight to 18 the student must commit to 10,000 hours of study outside of the school day.

The bottom line for Memphis City Schools is clear: there has never been a more important or more challenging time in the history of education in Memphis. The imperative is that we join together as a community united in both strategy and urgency for the future of the youth of Memphis.