One year after the last ASD school in Nashville closed, the state gives up on turning schools over to charter operators.
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by Lillian Avedian, [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –
Management of two Memphis schools will be returned to the local school district at the start of the 2026-27 academic year. Hillcrest High and Kirby Middle Schools, located in southeast Memphis, are the last remaining schools in Tennessee’s Achievement School District, and the changeover will effectively end the program.
Hillcrest and Kirby came under state control in 2015 as part of the Achievement School District. The state assigned the schools to charter management group IOTA Community Schools, formerly Green Dot Public Schools Tennessee.
This year, IOTA Community Schools applied to Memphis Shelby County Schools to continue managing these schools for another 10-year term, as part of a state-run district overseen by the Tennessee Charter School Commission. The district denied the applications. Upon appeal, the commission voted on Friday to uphold the denial of the applications, based on the schools’ poor academic performance.
The state launched the Achievement School District in 2010 to intervene in low-performing schools. Under the program, the state was empowered to take control of schools in local districts, including in Nashville and Memphis, and assign them to charter operators.
Research suggests that the Achievement School District has not improved student performance. Rather, it may have led to worse high school test scores.
Recognizing its failure, lawmakers voted this spring to shut down the Achievement School District and to release all schools currently assigned to the district before the start of the 2026-27 academic year. LEAD Brick Church, the last Nashville school in the Achievement School District, returned to operation within Metro Nashville Public Schools in 2024.
Hillcrest and Kirby, the final two schools to leave the Achievement School District, illustrate the poor outcomes. The Charter School Commission found that those schools have consistently demonstrated low academic performance over the past decade, below the average of Memphis Shelby County Schools.
“IOTA, formerly GDPST, is an experienced operator in the state of Tennessee, and the operator has spent the last 10 years working to turn around schools in some of the most difficult circumstances,” Tess Stovall, executive director of the commission, said during Friday’s meeting. “Their commendable efforts are a part of what makes this recommendation challenging.”
Staying sub-standard
Both Kirby and Hillcrest have received Level 1 TVAAS composite scores — the lowest possible score in measuring students’ academic growth — for the past three years.
Hillcrest’s math proficiency rate is just 5 percent, with a 68.4 percent graduate rate in 2022-23 — well below the district rate of 81.1 percent. The high school has resorted to streaming math classes from another network school, a move that has not improved proficiency. Meanwhile, both Hillcrest and Kirby have seen persistent problems with chronic absenteeism.
During Friday’s meeting, commissioners acknowledged that students have come to rely on the extensive wraparound services provided at these schools. For instance, Hillcrest’s students — about 68 percent of whom qualify as economically disadvantaged — utilize the school’s therapy services, social workers and free meals.
Commissioners repeatedly stated that this was a “difficult” decision, considering the disruption to students’ education — particularly for high school students nearing graduation — involved in the transition from state to local management.
“There are so many good people, teachers, staff and students who are putting their all into these efforts,” Commissioner Tom Marino said. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t the right decision.”
Commissioners also expressed deep concerns about where students will go if the district decides to close these schools at the end of the current academic year, rather than continue to manage them as zoned schools. They highlighted the limited options; for instance, Whitehaven High School, a higher performing school near Hillcrest, is at capacity.
“At the moment, there is no better option in the immediate community for these students to attend,” Commissioner Terence Patterson said. “It is unrealistic to ask parents to drive seven, eight, nine, 15 or 20 miles or across the city to a high performing option.”
The state currently oversees several schools that previously transitioned out of the Achievement School District through the Charter School Commission, including LEAD Neely’s Bend in Nashville. On Thursday, the commission approved the opening of two new charter schools in Tennessee that will join its portfolio. Rocketship TN 4, which is set to open in Rutherford County at the start of the 2026-27 academic year, will be the fourth Rocketship charter school in the state and the first outside of Davidson County.
One Response
Trying to “educate” the uneducable.