Where We Stand
Here’s where we are. Here’s what we inherited. Baseline conditions for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, 2025-26 — every figure compared to the state and to our own trajectory.
About 2 in 3 third graders are not reading on grade level
Source: TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26
About 1 in 5 students are on track in math
Source: TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26
About 1 in 6 MSCS students does not graduate within four years
Source: TDOE Graduation Cohort Data, 2024-25
A Ready Graduate meets Tennessee's college- and career-readiness definition
Source: TDOE Ready Graduate Data, 2024-25
District Profile enrollment count; TDOE reports demographic groups on a separate profile snapshot
Source: TDOE District Profile Data, 2024-25
TDOE's direct-certification definition is reported in the source notes
Source: TDOE District Profile Data, 2024-25
Current student growth is rated at the state's highest level; recent results have varied
Source: TDOE District Wide TVAAS Composite, 2024-25
The state's own accountability system rates the district as improving
Source: TDOE Accountability File / MSCS Federal Accountability Release, 2024-25
The Pipeline: 100 Students Enter Kindergarten…
Every section of this dashboard maps to a stage in this pipeline. Each bar shows how many of 100 MSCS kindergartners reach the milestone.
Hypothetical cohort built from the most recent rate at each stage — not a single tracked class. Sources shown on hover.
Early Childhood
Data GapThe first public outcome gate is third-grade reading. The earlier access and readiness data still need to be made public.
Third-grade reading gate — live TDOE data
31.8%
About 2 in 3 third graders are not reading on grade level Source: TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26.
Pre-K access and unmet need
A district enrollment count does not show how many eligible four-year-olds could not obtain a high-quality seat.
Needed for publication: Annual Shelby County or District 792 eligible-child estimate, funded seats, enrollment, and waitlist by geography.
Public source leadKindergarten readiness
The state discusses readiness research but does not publish a comparable District 792 readiness series in the standard public downloads.
Needed for publication: District-level annual readiness assessment results with a stable definition, denominator, and subgroup suppression rules.
Public source leadAcademic Outcomes — K through 12
Our kids are growing. The system isn’t giving them enough to grow into.
ELA proficiency (grades 3–8) — MSCS vs. Tennessee
Source: TDOE TCAP Assessment Files. 2019-20 canceled and 2020-21 disrupted by COVID; treat those years with caution.
TVAAS growth composite — how much students grew vs. expectation
Source: TDOE TVAAS District Composites. 2020-21 not rated (COVID). Level 5 = significantly above expected growth.
Why both charts matter — the core tension
TVAAS measures whether students learned more than predicted given where they started — and current MSCS student growth is rated at the state’s highest level, though recent results have varied. Proficiency measures whether students are on grade level — and most MSCS students are not, because the starting point is so far behind. Tennessee’s accountability formula weights proficiency heavily, so the district is penalized in state ratings even while its kids grow faster than anywhere else in the state. Our children are running faster than ever. The finish line is still too far. That’s a resource problem, not a performance problem.
Who the system serves: ELA proficiency by student group
MSCS is 93% students of color and 80%+ economically disadvantaged. State comparisons embed that composition as a disadvantage rather than an equity challenge to be funded. Hover a bar for each group’s share of enrollment.
Source: TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26 (grades 3-8 ELA). Suppressed values shown as suppressed, never estimated.
Chronic absenteeism (missing 10%+ of school days) — lower is better
Source: TDOE Chronic Absenteeism Files. COVID years labeled in tooltip; absenteeism remains far above the 2018-19 baseline.
Suspended students lose instructional time and are far more likely to enter the justice system.
The disparity between suspension share and enrollment share is the school-climate equity signal.
The explicit education-to-justice pipeline link — see the 901justice dashboard for where it leads. TDOE Discipline Data 2024-25; CRDC 2020-21 (referrals).
4-year graduation rate — MSCS vs. Tennessee
Source: TDOE Graduation Cohort Data (4-year cohort denominator).
Ready Graduate rate (ACT ≥21 + career/college credential)
Source: TDOE Ready Graduate Files. Graduating is not the same as graduating ready.
Class of 2025; TDOE district file + ACT state/national report
System Structure
Mixed SourcesDistrict 792 includes traditional public and public charter schools. These counts use the Tennessee School Directory's exact school IDs and preserve inactive listings for transparency rather than quietly dropping them.
Traditional public schools
151
142 listed as active in the directory
Public charter schools
55
51 listed as active in the directory
What this count does — and does not — show
School counts describe the system's structure, not school quality, enrollment, or funding. The dashboard will add those measures only after each source can be matched consistently and published with its vintage and methodology.
Data gap: Comparable charter performance
A current, school-level TCAP series matched to governance and enrollment context has not yet been verified for publication here.
Public source to verify: TDOE Assessment Files / Tennessee State Report CardData gap: Teacher workforce detail
A current District 792 series for experience and out-of-field teaching needs a verified public release and consistent definitions before publication.
Public source to verify: TDOE Educator Preparation and Workforce dataBoard of Managers Accountability
The board has the power. These are the numbers they’ll be judged by — the baseline they inherit, defined before anyone can redefine it after the fact.
Baseline Scorecard — Year Zero (2024-25)
| Metric | Baseline | Source | Why the board answers for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd grade ELA proficiency | 31.8% | TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26 | Primary reading accountability metric |
| Graduation rate (4-year) | 84.1% | TDOE Graduation Cohort Data, 2024-25 | Completion benchmark |
| Ready Graduate rate | 58.4% | TDOE Ready Graduate Data, 2024-25 | College/career readiness |
| TVAAS composite (5-level) | Level 5 of 5 | TDOE District Wide TVAAS Composite, 2024-25 | Growth under their governance |
| Chronic absenteeism rate | 30.2% | TDOE Chronic Absenteeism, 2024-25 | Engagement + access signal |
| Black-White proficiency gap (ELA) | 36.3 pts | TDOE TCAP + CRDC, 2025 | Equity measure |
| Teacher retention rate | 81.7% | TDOE Teacher Retention, 2024-25 | Workforce stability |
| Per-pupil expenditure | $14,595 | TDOE Finance / Report Card expenditure file, 2024-25 | Investment accountability |
| Out-of-school suspension rate | 11.5% | TDOE Discipline Data, 2024-25 | School climate |
| Post-secondary enrollment rate | 49.1% | TDOE Post-Secondary Enrollment, class of 2023 | Pipeline output |
Baseline values freeze at the Board of Managers’ Year Zero and update annually as TDOE releases new files. The accountability framing is advocacy content from Stand for Children Tennessee, clearly labeled as such — not neutral reporting.
What success looks like — defined proactively
- •Stabilize enrollment decline
- •Establish a transparent public data reporting cadence
- •Address the teacher vacancy crisis
- •Increase 3rd grade ELA proficiency by ≥3 percentage points
- •Reduce chronic absenteeism by ≥5 points
- •Close the Black-White proficiency gap by a measurable margin
- •Achieve a graduation rate at or above the state average
- •Maintain TVAAS Composite 4 or 5 (high growth)
- •Increase the Ready Graduate rate annually
Structural accountability questions the community should keep asking
- — Is the board publishing regular data reports accessible to the public?
- — Is community input being meaningfully incorporated in major decisions?
- — Are school improvement resources following the schools with greatest need?
- — Are disciplinary practices equitable across race and disability status?
- — Is the charter sector being held to the same accountability standards as zone schools?
Goals Watch: Who Has Promised What
Report-BackedA running registry of public goals set for Memphis students — by statewide advocates, by the district itself, and by this project. Goals are easy to announce and easy to forget; recording who promised what, when, and against what baseline is how the community holds every goal-setter to their own yardstick.
TN SCORE — TN2030
SCORE's data-driven statewide vision: the gains Tennessee could make if one more student per classroom succeeds each year through 2030. Four goals at the milestones that most shape life outcomes, with district-level dashboards — including one for MSCS — tracking local progress.
| Goal | Baseline (as published) | Target | Where MSCS stands |
|---|---|---|---|
3rd grade ELA By 2030, 71% of Tennessee third graders are reading and writing on grade level. | 42% statewide (2025 TCAP) | 71% by 2030 | 31.8% MSCS 3rd grade ELA proficiency (TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26) |
7th grade math By 2030, 58% of Tennessee seventh graders are proficient in math. | 39% statewide (2025 TCAP) | 58% by 2030 | This dashboard does not yet publish a 7th-grade-only cut; MSCS grades 3–8 math proficiency was 22.1% in 2025-26 (TDOE TCAP). |
Postsecondary enrollment By 2030, 77% of graduating Tennessee high school students pursue a postsecondary opportunity — college or training in a trade. | Not stated in the cited source | 77% by 2030 | 49.1% MSCS post-secondary enrollment rate (TDOE Post-Secondary Enrollment, class of 2023) |
Postsecondary completion By 2030, 64% of Tennessee postsecondary students complete a degree or credential, with 75% of those being impact credentials aligned to workforce needs. | 45% statewide (per SCORE, 2025) | 64% by 2030 | Measured statewide by THEC; no district-level analog is published. |
Memphis-Shelby County Schools — Academic Plan 2025–2030
The district's own five-year academic plan, adopted before the Board of Managers was appointed. Its Executive Summary sets seven measurable 2030 targets against a 2023–24 baseline, plus a separate 3rd Grade Literacy Commitment. Whether the new board keeps, revises, or abandons these commitments is itself worth tracking.
| Goal | Baseline (as published) | Target | Where MSCS stands |
|---|---|---|---|
3rd grade reading on grade level By 2030, at least 75% of MSCS students will read on grade level by the end of 3rd grade. | Not stated in the cited source | 75% by 2030 | The plan measures this via universal screeners (aimswebPlus, i-Ready), explicitly distinct from TCAP proficiency (plan pp. 24–25); no public screener data exists to track it. MSCS 3rd grade TCAP ELA proficiency was 31.8% in 2025-26 (TDOE TCAP). |
3rd grade ELA proficiency ELA Proficiency (Grade 3): from a 27.5% baseline (2023–24) to 52.0% by 2030. | 27.5% (2023-24 TCAP) | 52% by 2030 | 31.8% MSCS 3rd grade ELA proficiency (TDOE TCAP Assessment File, 2025-26) |
ELA proficiency (grades 3–12) ELA Proficiency (Grades 3–12): from a 23.7% baseline (2023–24) to 51.0% by 2030. | 23.7% (2023-24 TCAP) | 51% by 2030 | This dashboard publishes a grades 3–8 composite, not 3–12: MSCS grades 3–8 ELA proficiency was 24.6% in 2025-26 (TDOE TCAP). |
Math proficiency (grades 3–12) Math Proficiency (Grades 3–12): from an 18.5% baseline (2023–24) to 47.0% by 2030. | 18.5% (2023-24 TCAP) | 47% by 2030 | This dashboard publishes a grades 3–8 composite, not 3–12: MSCS grades 3–8 math proficiency was 22.1% in 2025-26 (TDOE TCAP). |
Science proficiency (grades 3–12) Science Proficiency (Grades 3–12): from a 26.6% baseline (2023–24) to 52.0% by 2030. | 26.6% (2023-24 TCAP) | 52% by 2030 | Science proficiency is not yet published on this dashboard. |
Social studies proficiency Social Studies Proficiency: from a 25.1% baseline (2023–24) to 51.0% by 2030. | 25.1% (2023-24 TCAP) | 51% by 2030 | Social studies proficiency is not yet published on this dashboard. |
On-time graduation rate On-Time Graduation Rate: from an 83.4% baseline (2023–24) to 95.0% by 2030. | 83.4% (2023-24) | 95% by 2030 | 84.1% MSCS 4-year cohort graduation rate (TDOE Graduation Cohort Data, 2024-25) |
ACT composite ≥ 21 ACT Composite ≥ 21: from a 16.5% baseline (2023–24) to 35.0% of students by 2030. | 16.5% of students (2023-24) | 35% by 2030 | This dashboard publishes the average ACT composite (MSCS 16.4, Class of 2025), not the share of students scoring 21 or above. |
Stand for Children Tennessee — Board of Managers milestones
Success milestones this project proposed for the state-appointed Board of Managers, defined proactively against a frozen Year-Zero baseline. Advocacy content, clearly labeled — not neutral reporting.
See the Board Accountability section for the full milestones and Year-Zero baselineStatewide targets are not district targets
TN2030’s numbers are goals for Tennessee as a whole; MSCS values are shown beside them for context, not as if the district had adopted them. The gap they reveal is the point: statewide goals are only reachable if Memphis — the state’s largest district — moves. SCORE’s own MSCS dashboard tracks the district-level view of the same milestones.