The Achievement School District (ASD) is a school system in Tennessee providing academic intervention in the lowest performing schools in Tennessee, with the goal of increasing student achievement in those schools.[1] The ASD's assigned task is to move the bottom 5% of schools in Tennessee to the top 25% of schools in the state.[2] The Achievement School District was created to cause "school turnaround," a term meaning rapid results in poorer-performing schools.[3] The Achievement School District is modeled after the Louisiana Recovery School District and takes elements from Michigan's state-run district for failing schools as well.[4]
Tennessee received funding from the federal government to create the Achievement School District when it won Race to the Top, a United States Department of Education contest created to spur innovation and reforms in state and local district K–12 education.[5] The Achievement School District was created to improve student achievement in Tennessee's Priority Schools—those in the bottom 5% in the state—and in so doing, increasing students' career options and life outcomes. It is modeled from principles of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and Obama's Race to the Top legislation.[6] Various states submit their budget proposals in order to receive financial support. Schools in desperate need of change are labelled as priority schools. Those priority schools are added into this school district with the goal to be eventually released back into city and state school systems.[7] They acquire staff from programs such as the Memphis Teacher Residency and Teach for America.
Malika Anderson was named the superintendent of the Achievement School District in November 2015 by the Tennessee Department of Education. She was preceded by Chris Barbic, who served in the role from 2011 to 2015. The district depends on charter management organizations (CMOs) in order to run and fund these charter schools.[8] CMOs come from various sources such as the state, national organizations, and financial donors. The Achievement School District creates autonomy for these schools to launch the programs they need.
The bottom 5% of Tennessee schools include 83 schools across Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.[9] [10], there are 31 schools serving 12,000 students in the ASD.
| Elementary school | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Grades served | School operator | Location | Year opened | |
| Aspire Coleman Elementary | PK–6 | Aspire Public Schools | Memphis | 2014 | |
| Aspire Hanley Elementary #1 | K–7 | Aspire Public Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Aspire Hanley Elementary #2 | PK–5 | Aspire Public Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Cornerstone Prep – Denver Campus | K–5 | Capstone Education Group | Memphis | 2015 | |
| Cornerstone Prep – Lester Campus | PK–5 | Capstone Education Group | Memphis | 2012 | |
| Corning Achievement Elementary School | PK–5 | Achievement Schools | Memphis | 2012 | |
| Frayser Achievement Elementary School | PK–5 | Achievement Schools | Memphis | 2012 | |
| Georgian Hills Achievement Elementary School | PK–5 | Achievement Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| KIPP Memphis Academy Elementary | K–2 | KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| KIPP Memphis Preparatory Elementary | K–1 | KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools | Memphis | 2015 | |
| Klondike Preparatory Academy | K–5 | Gestalt Community Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Libertas School at Brookmeade | PK–2 | Libertas School of Memphis | Memphis | 2015 | |
| Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie | PK–5 | Memphis Scholars | Memphis | 2016 | |
| Memphis Scholars Florida-Kansas | K–5 | Memphis Scholars | Memphis | 2015 | |
| Promise Academy-Spring Hill | PK–3 | Promise Academy | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Whitney Achievement Elementary School | PK–5 | Achievement Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Middle school | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Grades | School operator | Location | Year opened | |
| Brick Church College Prep | 5–8 | LEAD Public Schools | Nashville | 2012 | |
| Humes Preparatory Academy | 6–8 | Gestalt Community Schools | Memphis | 2012 | |
| KIPP Memphis Preparatory Middle | 5–7 | KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools | Memphis | 2013 | |
| KIPP Memphis University Middle | 6–7 | KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools | Memphis | 2014 | |
| Kirby Middle School | 6–8 | Green Dot Public Schools | Memphis | 2016 | |
| Lester Prep | 6–8 | Capstone Education Group | Memphis | 2014 | |
| Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt | 6–8 | Memphis Scholars | Memphis | 2016 | |
| Neely's Bend College Prep | 5–6 | LEAD Public Schools | Nashville | 2015 | |
| Westside Achievement Middle School | 6–8 | Achievement Schools | Memphis | 2012 | |
| Wooddale Middle School | 6–8 | Green Dot Public Schools | Memphis | 2015 | |
| High school | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Grades | School operator | Location | Year opened | |
| Fairley High School | 9–12 | Green Dot Public Schools | Memphis | 2014 | |
| GRAD Academy Memphis | 9–12 | Project Grad USA | Memphis | 2013 | |
| Hillcrest High School | 9–12 | Green Dot Public Schools | Memphis | 2016 | |
| Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High School | 9–12 | Frayser Community Schools | Memphis | 2014 | |
| Alternative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Grades | School operator | Location | Year opened | |
| Pathways in Education–Memphis in Frayser | 9–12 | Pathways in Education | Memphis | 2014 | |
| Pathways in Education–Memphis in Whitehaven | 9–12 | Pathways in Education | Memphis | 2015 | |