The state is moving ahead with plans to take control of Tennessee’s worst-performing schools, but just how many will be included in the new Achievement School District depends on officials in Washington.
Tennessee’s winning application for federal Race to the Top funds included a plan to have non-profit groups take over—and hopefully turn around—schools that have been categorized as “persistently low-performing.” That term is meant to have a very specific meaning under education law, but federal officials haven’t yet settled on a single definition.
Education Commissioner Tim Webb says that means there are essentially two tiers of schools under consideration for the state’s plan.
“We basically have seven schools that have already been told they’re the ones that meet both definitions of the federal government for persistently low performing. We have six other schools that are in the hopper.”
Those six meet one definition, but not the other.
No matter which definition officials adopt as the final standard, the list of schools slated for takeover may soon grow. The annual report on which have met or failed under No Child Left Behind standards is due later this summer.
The handovers will begin next year. Right now, Webb says the focus is on understanding the root problems at the schools that have already been identified.
“This year will be a year of diagnostics and prescription and looking at what they need and what kind of partners they really need.”
Funding for the Achievement School District will come from Tennessee’s federal Race to the Top grant.
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