Professionalism represents 5% of the overall TEM rating for both tested and non-tested teachers and must be completed and finalized by both the educator and the administrator to receive an LOE score.  Professionalism containers are live, and educators may begin inputting narratives, uploading artifacts, and completing self-scores.  

The suggested deadline for teacher completion is Friday, April 18, 2025.  For questions and/or concerns about instructional evaluations, please contact EPS by phone at (901) 416-2475 or via email at eps@scsk12.org. 

Portfolio Reminders:

Non-Tested Grades and Subject Teachers: Please be sure to log into your TN Portfolium Account to select your collections and standards for SY2024-25.  As a reminder, the NTGS Educators listed below will submit TEAM Student Growth Portfolios for SY24-25:

• Fine Arts
• Physical Education (Elementary)
• Pre-K
• World Languages (French & Spanish)(6-12)

 Portfolio educators are strongly encouraged to submit their Point A and B Submissions before the 5 p.m., May 5, 2024, deadline. 

 *Please note: Per the State, a portfolio will be assigned an Incomplete (I) and the teacher’s LOE (Level of Overall Effectiveness) score will NOT generate for the school year if any of the four collections are not completed by the deadline.

Questions/Support

If any NGTS educator is having issues accessing the platform, needs their State SSO, or has had job/role changes that do not require submission of a portfolio, please contact the District Portfolio Lead, Ayodele Hall, at hallam@scsk12.org.

Dear Principals,

We hope that you have had a productive week. As we continue to strive for excellence in our educational practices, we are pleased to inform you about the upcoming Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) support sessions organized by Performance & Leadership Development. These sessions are designed to provide ILT members with the necessary tools and strategies to enhance instructional leadership within their schools. 

Upcoming Support Sessions:

1. Implementing High-Impact Strategies
   • Date: Thursday, May 1, 2025
   • Time:
     • 3:15pm-4:15pm (High School, CCTE ILT Members Only)-Auditorium
     • 3:30pm-4:30pm (Middle School ILT Members Only)-Multipurpose Room
     • 4:30pm-5:30pm (Elementary School, K-8 School ILT Members Only)-Auditorium
   • Location: Teaching & Learning Academy Auditorium/Multipurpose Room located at 2485 Union Avenue, Memphis TN, 38112
2. Save the Dates: ALL ILT Documentation May 2, 2025

Spring 2025 ILT Teacher Logs and ILT Stipend Excel Sheet: Due by May 2, 2025

(Any schools submitting documents after this deadline will waive their semester stipends.)

Documentation Deadlines:

To ensure we are all aligned and prepared for Spring 2025 ILT Stipend Submission, please be reminded of the following documentation deadlines:

• Spring 2025 Teacher Log dates should reflect: January 6-May 2, 2025
  • *The ILT Support Session, Data Driven Instruction Cycle that occurred on December 5, 2024, can be included as (1) hour on the ILT Content Teacher Log for the Spring 2025 semester.
• ILT Semester Hours: ILT Content Lead Teachers must complete and submit to their respective principal by the deadline at least (22) hours per semester conducted and logged outside of the allotted (contractual) school day to be eligible for the semester stipend.
• Mandatory Attendance: ILT Content Lead Teachers must attend all Instructional Leadership Team meetings and all District-level Content Support Session meetings to be eligible for the semester stipend.

Below is a link to our ILT Principal Resource Folder for your reference:

Principal Resources 2024-25

Your timely submission of these documents and attention to due dates is crucial for the success of our collaborative efforts. Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at iltstipends@scsk12.org.

Thank you for your continued dedication and hard work. We look forward to supporting you and your ILT teams by working together to achieve our district’s priority goals.

Best regards,

Performance & Leadership Development Team

As we wrap up this school year, we wanted to extend virtual office hours to those of you who may have additional questions about document submissions. See the date and link below:

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, 2025: Office Hours Link April 23, 2025

Lastly, our May 6, 2025, meeting was scheduled to be virtual. This meeting will be moved to in-person to allow us to close out the year in a celebratory way! Your efforts deserve to be recognized, and we want to use this time to do so! 

If you are able to attend, please RSVP using this link as we aim to get an accurate head count:

NTM End of Year Celebration

Thank you again for all that you do to support schools and students. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Please find the MTSS Lead Weekly Updates for 4/14/25.

Leaders, the SEAs have completed their 6-session series, and we are eager to understand how they are transforming in their roles to better support our students. To evaluate the effectiveness of the training, the SEAs completed exit tickets and surveys. However, we would also like to gather feedback from the teachers and school leaders who work closely with them for a more comprehensive perspective.

Please take a moment to complete the Leader Survey below and share the Teacher Survey with teachers who collaborate with SEAs.

Leader Survey: https://bit.ly/4cbVDM8
Teacher Survey: https://bit.ly/41XfDxc

Additionally, you can find a summary of the SEA training and their next steps below:

SEA Training Summary: https://bit.ly/4hI8uqs

Summer Learning Academy: If your school building is hosting SLA this summer, your SEAs will remain in the school building for SLA support. SEAs from other schools will be assigned to your school for additional support. If your school is not hosting SLA this summer, your SEAs will be assigned to a nearby feeder school to support SLA. If you have any questions regarding SEAs, please contact Heba Sammour at SAMMOURH@SCSK12.ORG.

The District is excited to announce the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Voices of Tomorrow Oratorical Ambassador Competition for students across MSCS! This competition offers students the opportunity to develop their public speaking skills, build their confidence, and share their perspectives on important topics. Winners will have the honor of serving as MSCS Student Ambassadors, elevating student voices throughout the District while continuing to grow their oratorical skills in future public speaking events. 

Purpose of the Competition: 
The oratorical competition aims to help students enhance their public speaking abilities, encouraging them to express their thoughts on significant topics. The winners will be trained as MSCS Student Ambassadors to advocate for student voice and participate in district-level speaking opportunities. 

Eligibility: 

Open to elementary (grades 3-5), middle (grades 6-8), and high school (grades 9-11), students throughout the district. 

Participants will compete individually. 

Competition Topics: 

Participants will choose one topic from the list below to craft their speech: 

The Importance of Kindness in School 

A Lesson Learned from a Failure 

Speech Guidelines: 

Length: Speeches must be between 3 to 5 minutes. 

Content: Well-structured speeches with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. 

Originality: All speeches must be the participant's original work. Plagiarism will result in disqualification. 

Style: Use of rhetorical devices, storytelling, and personal anecdotes is encouraged to engage the audience. 

Judging Criteria: 

Content: Relevance, depth of research, and originality. 

Structure: Logical flow of ideas with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. 

Delivery: Clarity, confidence, body language, and eye contact. 

Engagement: Ability to captivate the audience and maintain attention. 

Originality: Creative and unique approach to the topic. 

How to Participate: 

Participants who complete the interest form will receive an email on April 21, 2025, to submit their student videos. 

Students will submit a recorded video of your oration by May 5, 2025. 

Judges will review all submissions and select finalists to present in person during the week of May 12th 

In-Person Competition: 

Finalists will compete in-person, and the top three winners per grade band will be awarded. 

Date, Time, and Location: Details will be provided to finalists. 

Awards: 

All participants will receive a certificate. 

The top three orators per grade band will receive cash prizes. 

Additional Information: 

Participants should arrive 30 minutes early to check in and prepare. 

Visual aids are allowed but must be approved in advance. 

For any questions, please contact officeofliteracy@scsk12.org  

We encourage you to share this exciting opportunity with your staff and students and support them in preparing their speeches. This is a great chance for students to showcase their talent and represent their peers as Student Ambassadors! 

The yearly TCAP testing window is approaching. Starting April 14th, all MSCS students will take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) test.

To maintain proper test security, it is ideal test security protocol to have a second adult (proctor) in each testing room, such as a second teacher or a volunteer proctor who assists the test administrator. While volunteer proctors cannot handle test materials, they can help monitor the room during testing. Each school will have its own testing schedule, so please coordinate accordingly.

To ensure we are following all security protocols, it is important that all volunteer proctors are screened appropriately. Please have your volunteer proctors follow these steps:

Visit: https://scsk12.org/face/level2

Click on the link in Step 2 and watch the 6-minute orientation video

Click the APPLICATION tab to begin the online volunteer application

Select the school building that you will report to.

Under Volunteer Function, select Test Monitor/Proctor (Level 2)

Once approved, the volunteer will receive an automated email notification. 

The Shelby County Youth Council is a representative body for all 13 districts within Shelby County that aims to ensure that government representatives listen and respond to youth voices. As well as include high school aged youth in decision-making processes, solve issues that youth have identified in the community, and strengthen youth engagement in the county government.

Earlier this spring SCYC hosted a Youth Voice Summit where over 250 youth were in attendance that came together to create solutions to issues around Mental Health, Violence and Public safety,  Education, and Things for youth to do in Memphis and Shelby County. You can read about the summit here from our local media outlets, WREG and WMC.

Following this Summit, SCYC took the findings from this event and Went before the County Commission and the School Board to share some of those recommendations, during their scheduled meetings.    

Now the council is gearing up for the next year, and they are looking for youth to join them. We have open spots for Shelby County districts  2,4,5,6,7, 8, 9, 11, and 12! Please share this information with young people in your networks! The deadline to apply has been extended to accept applications on a rolling basis until all spots are filled. 

More Information Here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5Y68jOAEOEk1jWwfBkAll4n-gRHTO9g/view?usp=sharing

The new Scholarship & GPA report in High School Progress is now available. You can use this report to track scholarships offered and amounts awarded, as well as weighted and TN Lottery GPA information. See the user guide for more information.

The Grad Tracker report in High School Progress has been updated with Grad Plan information. See the user guide for that report here.

The District Quick Report in High School Progress has been updated with scholarship, GPA, Student Intervention and Grad Plan information. See the user guide here.

C.O.M.E. to Win data for the 7th 20-day period is available for all schools. See the C.O.M.E. to Win Report User Guide here.

We’re making updates to the Ready Graduates Dashboard and we need your feedback! If you use the Ready Graduates dashboard, please fill out this survey.

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Upcoming Training Sessions:

No Virtual Office Hours sessions are scheduled this week.

We will be back next week (4/29 and 5/1) with sessions on the RTI-A Screener Reports.

For more information on Virtual Office Hours, check out this flyer! Sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 PM on Microsoft Teams.

Check out our Training Calendar for all upcoming District Trainings.

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Monthly Newsletter: 

Check your inbox! On the first Wednesday of every month, the DAIM team sends out a monthly newsletter to all Power BI users. In it, you will find more information on upcoming trainings, new releases, and how-to guides. 

To see this month’s edition (and all archived editions), visit our support page. 
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Check out our page of new/updated features and releases on our DAIM Support Page! 

You can reach out to us at DAIMSUPPORT@scsk12.org if you need support.   
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MSCS Compass Access: 

Principals can give school staff members access through the MSCS Compass Access App. For more information about how to use the app, see this user guide