At a February board meeting for Memphis-Shelby county schools in Tennessee, a parent of five children who currently or formerly attended Ida B Wells Academy, an alternative education school, asked board members a question.
鈥淭his is a high-performing school. This is not a school in crisis,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o I respectfully ask, why are we considering closing a school that is working?鈥
Indeed, while only 23% of students at the K-8 school tested at or above grade level in English language arts and 27% tested at or above grade level in math 鈥 which was below state averages鈥攖hat was still better than the district鈥檚 Chickasaw middle school, where only 7% of students tested at or above grade level in English and less than 5% did so in math, according to state data.
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