Education: In the Bluff, Memphis Flyer

The Tutors

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:42:25 -0600

Want to be a mentor or a tutor for an Memphis City Schools student but don't quite know where to start?

The local chapter of Stand for Children, a grassroots education advocacy group, recently launched puteducationfirst.org, a site where citizens can sign up to volunteer time or money to a number of local organizations.…

School Enrollment Blues

Mary Cashiola — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:00:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, I tried to get some high school enrollment and capacity data from Memphis City Schools.

I didn't get it by deadline, and there were people out there who said I've never get it.…

Bill and Melinda Gates Visit MCS

Mary Cashiola — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:45:35 -0500

A year after Memphis City Schools (MCS) won $90 million from the Gates Foundation, co-chairs Bill and Melinda Gates were in Memphis today to see, in part, how all the "pieces line up."

"To hear how the community is coming together is quite something," Melinda Gates said.…

From Home to School

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:54:26 -0500

By the time December rolls around, all the residents currently living at Cleaborn Homes will have moved out to prepare for demolition of the public housing development. But that leaves a number of students enrolled at Georgia Avenue Elementary, Vance Middle, and Booker T. Washington High schools most likely changing schools.…

U of M's Planning Program Wins Award

Mary Cashiola — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:23:41 -0500

Congrats are in order to one of my favorite departments over at the U of M.

The school's Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning was recently awarded a 2010 Outstanding Planning Award by the Tennessee Chapter of the American Planning Association (TAPA) for the Vance Avenue Collaborative Community Visioning Initiative.

The project, which was conducted under the guidance of program director Ken Reardon, used a broad public participation process for collecting and analyzing data, as well as developing a vision for the historically significant African-American neighborhood.…

Tiger Green

Mary Cashiola — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:48:15 -0500

Tomorrow is the University of Memphis' Tiger Blue Goes Green day, complete with a Sustainable Design Showcase in the third floor ballroom in the University Center and exhibits on recycling, the campus gardening initiative, and eco-job opportunities on the Student Plaza.

U of M President Shirley Raines will kick off the event at 10 a.m.…

Game Theory

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:32:13 -0500

Lately, we've been keeping an eye on national education reform, if only b/c of Memphis' unique place in it.

But Memphis isn't the only place looking for new models and innovation in education. Last week's NYT magazine was all about the intersect of technology and education, and included a long piece about a public school in New York that uses video games as their basis for teaching.…

More Federal Funds for Tennessee

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:09:01 -0500

In the federal Race to the Top, Tennessee is surely a competitor.

The state will share in a $170 million Race to the Top Assessment Program grant announced today by the U.s. Department of Education.…

More With MCS Consultant Jeffrey Hernandez

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:45:00 -0500

As part of this week's print extravaganza, I interviewed controversial Memphis City Schools (MCS) consultant Jeffrey Hernandez. His $1,500-a-day consulting fee, coupled with an intense animosity for him from some parents in Palm Beach County and his ties to superintendent Kriner Cash and deputy superintendent Irving Hamer, have caused questions about his employment at MCS.…

The Dance and Data of the Lemons

Mary Cashiola — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:47:03 -0500

Last week, the LA Times began an ambitious series focused on teacher effectiveness at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Using value-added data compiled from seven years of math and English test scores, the newspaper is exploring the (often, quite large) disparities between effective and ineffective teachers.…

Zipped Up

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:52:00 -0500

Car-sharing is going to college.

Rhodes College just announced car-sharing service Zipcar will be on campus this fall.…

Who Is MCS Consultant Jeffrey Hernandez?

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:07:00 -0500

The Commercial Appeal reported yesterday that the Memphis City Schools had quietly hired consultant Jeffrey Hernandez, a former associate of superintendent Kriner Cash's from the Miami-Dade Public School District, at a rate of $1,500 a day to turn around its lowest-performing schools.

Like members of the school board, we wondered exactly who this guy was.…

The First 100 Days

Mary Cashiola — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:05:08 -0500

It might still be summer for many of us, but class was definitely in session this morning.

With LeMoyne-Owen College president Johnnie Watson and U of M basketball coach Josh Pastner in attendance, Leadership Memphis kicked off its 100 Things in 100 Days initiative today at Christian Brothers University.…

A Super Education?

Mary Cashiola — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:11:00 -0500

"We have tissues in the front and tissues in the back," Kenya Bradshaw, director of the local chapter of Stand for Children, told local educators, business people, and education advocates in the Methodist Presentation Theater at the U of M yesterday.

"People think they're not going to cry.…

Education Indicator

Mary Cashiola — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:12:46 -0500

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to the Brookings Institute's interactive "State of Metropolitan America Indicator Map," which shows educational attainment, race, age, and immigration status, among other things, across the country.

"The State of Metropolitan America is a signature effort of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program that portrays the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units — its large metropolitan areas — and discusses what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity for these places and their populations."

In terms of high school attainment, Memphis is ranked 60th, with 81.5 percent of the population having graduating high school.…

Before "Memphis As a Model"

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:05:47 -0500

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Memphis City Schools' Teacher Effectiveness Initiative and what it could mean for both the city and the state of Tennessee.

But, b/c of scheduling conflicts, one thing that was never included in the story was how Memphis came to be awarded more than $90 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.…

Teaching to the Test

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:09:09 -0500

[Here's something of a sneak peek for this week's upcoming In the Bluff column on the new educational standards for Tennessee students.]

The NYT reported last week that roughly 40 states have aligned (or are in the process of aligning) their state educational standards with national standards:

The quick adoption of common standards for what students should learn in English and math each year from kindergarten through high school is attributable in part to the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition. States that adopt the standards by Aug. 2 win points in the competition for a share of the $3.4 billion to be awarded in September.…
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Model of Education?

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:17:26 -0500

For all the crap that Memphis City Schools takes — and I'm not saying they don't deserve at least part of the reputation they have — recent events have transformed them into a model of national education reform.

I know what you're thinking: MCS a model?…

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Junkyard Camp

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:30:00 -0500

This week I wrote about the Junkyard Memphis' art and music camp held on Broad Avenue for our print publication, and as usual, I wanted to give you guys a little bit more material.

Here are some kids working on the sound sculptures with conservatory-trained percussionist Donald Knaack, or The Junkman:

The license plates and signs they were drilling would eventually be included on this:

The end result was this (also shown is a wooden xylophone with a nice assortment of pots, pans, and a colander):

Now I'm just going to tell you straight up.…
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Fast Tracked

Mary Cashiola — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:09:00 -0500

When Leadership Memphis began its first season of FastTrack, a two-month program aimed at emerging leaders in 2008 — the same year the organization turned 30 — I wrote about it.

"It is targeted to a younger and more up-and-coming leadership group," Leadership Memphis president David Williams said of FastTrack.…
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Degree of Graduates

Mary Cashiola — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:45:00 -0500

For this week's print edition — the one with the dice on the cover — I wrote about Leadership Memphis' college attainment initiative.

In the Memphis metro area, only 23.7 percent of the population has a college degree, leaving Memphis ranked 48th out of the top 51 metropolitan areas in college attainment.…
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Teachers, Education Reform, and Unions

Mary Cashiola — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:23:16 -0500

Just a heads up: The NYT Sunday magazine has a story this week about education reform and the tension between it and teachers' unions.

Memphis is actually on the forefront of these reforms, winning money from the Gates Foundation and being part of Tennessee's $500-million-winning Race to the Top application.…
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Tiger Green

Mary Cashiola — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:30:00 -0500

Last year around this time, we wrote about community gardens being planned for the University of Memphis campus.

Karyl Buddington, director of animal care at the university, plants a vegetable garden in her yard every spring.…
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City/MCS Reach Funding Agreement

Mary Cashiola — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:10:00 -0500

Tonight's Memphis City Council meeting might provide some closure to the ongoing city school funding crisis.

Memphis mayor A C Wharton, Memphis City Schools (MCS) superintendent Kriner Cash, and City Council chair Harold Collins presented a proposal to the Council's education committee in which the city would pay $20 million to the school system by May 1st.…
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Tennessee Races to the Top

Mary Cashiola — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:41:00 -0500

In the first round of the federal $4 billion Race to the Top education-reform competition, only Tennessee and Delaware have been awarded funding.

Tennessee asked for $502 million, but the exact amount of funding it will receive should be released at the official press conference at 1 p.m. today.…
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