Members of the Memphis-Shelby County Board of Education voted to approve amended charter applications for both the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory STEAM School for Girls and Journey Northeast Academy at Tuesday’s board meeting.

While recent results from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) exam indicate that students across the state achieved “record-high” proficiency rates in English Language Arts (ELA) and made some notable progress in math, analysts from the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) say more work is needed to address performance gaps affecting non-white and economically disadvantaged students.

For nearly 15 years, the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School has leveraged community partnerships with the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team to provide boys with hands-on learning and a focus on literacy and math. Now leaders want to extend those opportunities to girls.

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools charter review team recommended school board members approve an application for the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory STEAM School for Girls at Tuesday’s work session meeting. The proposed school would be one of three all-girls public charter schools in the state.

A new report from the education research organization NWEA suggests that K-12 academic performance is still lagging behind pre-pandemic trends, despite efforts in school districts across the country to combat “learning loss” that came as a result of the pandemic.

More school districts in Tennessee are now able to serve free meals to students, thanks to recent changes in federal rules governing free meal program eligibility.

A new survey study from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup suggests that students are still in need of additional academic support to improve performance and address “learning loss” that came with COVID-19.

A proposal to ban books depicting sexual imagery in Knox County Schools failed in a 4-2 vote. The board discussed compliance with a new state law set to take effect in July.