• To create academically challenging, safe, supportive and effective learning environments
• To ensure that all schools are staffed with highly-qualified personnel
• To work effectively with community agencies to support the physical and social/emotional development and well-being of students
• To strengthen the family/school/community partnership to support the academic, vocational, social, and emotional development of all students
• To establish high levels of accountability for academic and fiscal performance throughout the system
• To create a climate system-wide that is sensitive and responsive to the needs of an increasingly diverse student and community population

Relationships, Responsibilities, Results
Memphis City Schools is the largest school system in the State of Tennessee and the 21st largest school system in the nation and serves more than 119,000 students among 191 schools in grades K-12. Created as a special school district by a private act of the Tennessee General Assembly in 1869, Memphis City Schools (MCS) employs 16,500 people, including about 8,000 teachers, making it the second largest employer in the City of Memphis.

Our Demographics

• 191 schools (112 elementary, 25 middle, 4 junior high, 31 high schools, 6 career and technology, 7 special schools, and 6 charter) are operated by MCS.
• Approximately 87 percent of MCS students are black.
• Approximately 9 percent of MCS students are white.
• Approximately 4 percent of MCS students represent other nationalities.
• Approximately 71 percent of MCS students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
• 14.4 percent of MCS students are enrolled in special education programs, and of that number, 12 percent are enrolled in special programs for gifted students.
• In 2003-04, the system-wide graduation rate was 61 percent, with 5,532 Memphis City Schools students earning a terminal document (regular or honors diploma, GED, high school certificate or special education diploma). Of those students, 81 percent earned a regular or honors diploma on time (four years plus one summer).
• Memphis City Schools employs approximately 16,500 people, making the district the second largest employer in the City of Memphis and the State of Tennessee.
• Approximately 8,000 teachers are employed by Memphis City Schools.
• Approximately 95 percent of Memphis City Schools teachers are "highly qualified" under No Child Left Behind Law standards.
• 53 percent of Memphis City Schools teachers hold a master's degree or higher.
• Approximately 51 percent of MCS teachers are black.
• Approximately 48 percent of MCS teachers are white.
• Approximately 1 percent of MCS teachers represent other nationalities.

Our Reasons for Pride

• Approximately $65 million in college scholarships were awarded to the 2004 senior class.
• Memphis City Schools had the most students named as National Merit Semifinalists (22) than any school system in the State of Tennessee in 2004-05.
• Memphis City Schools has more National Board Certified Teachers than any school system in the State of Tennessee. MCS has 40 National Board Certified Teachers, including 18 certified in December 2004, which was more than half of the 39 teachers certified during that time in Tennessee.
• 100 percent of our schools are accredited through by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
• Schools across the district are rated as among the best in the state and nation, including White Station High (ranked in top 20 in U.S. by Forbes magazine), Keystone Elementary (one of only 6 schools in the state named as Blue Ribbon School by U.S. Dept. of Education), and John P. Freeman Optional School (one of only 12 schools in the U.S. honored by American Board of Teacher Excellence), to name a few.
• State-of-the-art facilities for learning and professional development are a part of Memphis City Schools, including the Teaching & Learning Academy, the first of its kind in the nation to be operated by a public school system, and the Telecommunications Center for radio and television, the only one like it in the State of Tennessee.
• All classrooms in every school are Internet-wired to handle at least six computers.
• Memphis City Schools was chosen as only one of five city school districts to participate in the New Leaders for New Schools project, which trains educators to become outstanding principals in urban schools. More than $4 million was raised by local foundations for this initiative.
• Memphis City Schools was awarded a $1.6 million grant to bring the New Teacher Project to the district to develop new programs and improve old ones to attract and keep highly-qualified teachers.
• Innovative services for students and parents are available, including a district-wide Customer Relations Department for parents (one-of-a-kind in Mid-South), the Deaf Education program at White Station High (first of its kind in Tennessee), Shrine School for disabled students (top school in Mid-South for recreational therapy), and the Colonial Vision & Hearing Limited Centers (for students with visual and hearing impairments), to name a few.
• More than 650 business and community partners donate their time and money to MCS students through the Adopt-A-School program, which is being imitated around the country.
• Memphis City Schools produce a number of successful alumni annually, such as actresses Kathy Bates and Cybil Shepherd, musicians Elvis Presley and Isaac Hayes, entrepreneurs Avron Fogleman and Abe Plough, corporate executives Kemmons Wilson of Holiday Inn and Vicki Roman of Coca-Cola, astrophysicist Alan Lightman, and civil rights activists Benjamin Hooks and Maxine Smith to name a few.

Source from Memphis Public Schools