Tennessee graduation rate improves for third straight year
Tennessee graduation rates had steadily risen for about 10 years before the COVID-19 pandemic and related disruptions triggered a three-year slide in the state.
Melissa Brown
Melissa Brown is the Bureau Chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. She joined Chalkbeat from The Tennessean, where she covered state politics and government policy. Melissa is an Alabama native who grew up on military bases in Japan and England before graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in journalism.
There are 12 articles by Melissa Brown :
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October 2025
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Education Tennessee commission denies charter appeals from last Memphis ASD schools
Tennessee took over control of Kirby Middle School and Hillcrest High School over academic performance concerns. But the state’s Achievement School district yielded few gains, and now the schools will return to local control.
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Education Tennessee school boards could face voter recalls under new bill
A newly filed Tennessee bill would allow dissatisfied voters to recall certain elected officials, including school board members.
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Education Tennessee should fully fund special education pre-K, districts say
The Lakeland School System has criticized the state’s focus on private school choice over fully funding special education pre-K classes.
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September 2025
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Education Tennessee educators ask lawmakers to dial back or amend state testing
Dr. Kevin Schaaf, a Metro Nashville Public Schools reading specialist, said students are often fatigued and disengaged in class, stressed by the emphasis on test performance.
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Education Tennessee won’t say how many students are enrolled in new voucher program
Months after Tennessee launched its first statewide voucher program, the Tennessee Department of Education won’t say how many students are using it to attend private school.
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August 2025
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Education Students with disabilities can more quickly be removed from class under a new Tennessee rule
Tennessee schools had interpreted a 2022 rule to mean students could not be removed before a formal behavioral assessment was completed. Now, schools can make removal decisions during the assessment or even before it has started.
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Education Is Tennessee about to remove its world language graduation requirement?
When Tennessee State Board of Education Chairman Bob Eby mentioned at a May board meeting that he wanted to launch a study of the state’s language graduation requirement, he kicked off a firestorm of public response.
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July 2025
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Education Gov. Bill Lee downplays transparency concerns about Tennessee school voucher program
Students’ prior enrollment is a frequently asked question in other state voucher programs and was a required question on the application for Tennessee’s first voucher initiative.
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June 2025
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Food Here’s where Shelby County families can find free meals and snacks this summer
For the first time in five years, many Shelby County families are missing out on supplemental grocery cash this summer after Tennessee stopped participating in a federal program that served the entire state.
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Education Tennessee schools could remove students with disabilities from classroom before assessment under proposed rule change
Tennessee may soon make it easier for schools to temporarily remove some students with disabilities from their classrooms.
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Education Tennessee launches its summer food benefits this week. Most students in the state will miss out.
The program is a significant rollback of Tennessee’s previous summer food benefits initiative.
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