Elementary and K-8 Principals,

Thank you for your continued dedication to the Literacy Commitment work. The next steps for current 3rd and 4th grade students involve TCAP retake, promotional pathways, appeals, and promotional conferences.  

To support you in this work, training sessions will be held at the dates and times listed below. These sessions will provide guidance on the next steps required for 3rd and 4th grade Literacy Commitment efforts. Please use the link to register for your preferred session. You may also include additional staff members on the registration form if they will be supporting this work, so they can receive the information as well.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM

 Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM

 Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM

Training Session Registration Link: Literacy Commitment Next Steps Training Sign-Up

 A TEAMS link will be sent after registration.

If you have any questions, contact Stephanie McClain at mcclainsl@scsk12.org.

Your collaboration in these efforts is appreciated.

Course #: 48091 Course Title: Textbook Closeout Essentials: Accuracy, Accountability, and Audits 

As we approach the end of the school year, all schools must complete the required textbook closeout process to ensure a smooth transition into the 2025–2026 school year. A mandatory training for all designated textbook coordinators will be held on Wednesday, May 15, from 4:00–5:30 p.m. 

This session will cover: 

• Textbook inventory reconciliation and recurring order procedures 

• Obsolete and consumable textbook identification and boxing 

• Submission of required forms via SharePoint 

• Coordination with the District Textbook Services team 

• Preparation for the implementation of our new textbook automation system in the upcoming school year

If your school has not yet designated a textbook coordinator or completed Textbook Services School Information Collection Survey, please do so immediately. This information is essential for our district-wide textbook accountability and planning efforts. Thank you for your partnership as we work together to ensure instructional readiness across all MSCS schools. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your textbooks, please feel free to reach out to Dr. Rahmod Traylor, traylorr@scsk12.org directly. 

The 7th graders will once again engage in the Algebra I Placement Assessment, May 6th - 19th.  The assessment will occur via a Microsoft Form that will be shared with each school Tuesday morning, May 6.  An overview meeting will be held Monday, May 5th, for those Principals, Building Test Coordinators, or Counselors unfamiliar with the process.  The informational letter and meeting materials are available in the following OneDrive folder:  Algebra I in 8th Grade.

Contact Curriculum & Instruction Math Manager, Antronette Brown (416-5250), with any questions.

Principals, please find the 5/5/25 MTSS Lead Weekly Updates.

Dear Principals,

We hope that you have had a productive week. We thank you for your timely submission of ILT documents that were due May 2, 2025.  

Documentation Deadlines:

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

1. Spring 2025 ILT Teacher Logs and ILT Stipend Excel Sheet: Were due by May 2, 2025                                          (Any schools submitting documents after this deadline will waive their semester stipends.)
2. 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.
3. 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

Greetings Principals,

As we are preparing for May Principals’ Meeting which will occur on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Hardin Hall at the Memphis Botanic Gardens located at 750 Cherry Road, Memphis, Tennessee 38117.  We wanted to remind you that the meeting will start promptly at 8:00am and the suggested attire is shades of blue and white. We look forward to sharing with leaders; current best practices and pertinent information occurring throughout our District.

Please see the agenda here.

2025 May LDW Agendas - Viewable.docx

Best regards,

Performance and Leadership Development 

The College, Career and Technical Education Division is hosting a variety of camps this summer. Please share the attached flyers with parents and students. Registration can be completed using the QR code on each flyer.

Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-1-232(2) provides teachers holding a current teaching license with the opportunity to complete the Computer Science Endorsement Pathway (CSEP), a no-cost route to earn an endorsement qualifying them to teach approved computer science courses.

The pathway is intended to help licensed teachers earn an add-on endorsement in Computer Science to ensure each school has a properly endorsed teaching staff. Registration can be completed by individual teachers, principals, or district leaders. Priority enrollment will be given to teachers filling gaps in district needs.

The course will run from August 11 – November 30, 2025. The CSEP registration form is now available for submissions and will close on August 3, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CT. Registrants will be notified of either their acceptance to the cohort or their placement on the wait list during the week of August 4. Registrants placed on the wait list will be admitted to the course after August 25, as space permits. If you are unable to register for the Fall cohort, keep in mind that there will be Fall and Spring cohorts for the foreseeable future.

Please only submit one form per teacher. For additional questions or concerns, please reach out to Liza.Ambrose@tn.gov.

Thank you,

Dr. Monica C. Smith
CCTE Middle Grades Manager – Division of College, Career and Technical Education

https://stateoftennessee.formstack.com/forms/csep_teacher_registration_form_fall_2025?mc_cid=9989399d87&mc_eid=66e19556f2

Due to recent technical issues encountered with the student growth portfolio platform, the submission deadline has been extended. The new deadline for portfolio submissions is Friday, May 9 at 5:00 p.m. CT.

Please see updates below:

For teachers that have not submitted videos, please use a unique file name when uploading videos (e.g.,“TLN_collection_sample”).

Teachers should check their collections to ensure that all videos uploaded are their videos.  

If a teacher sees an error, the file should be removed and re-uploaded using a unique file name.

The State recognizes the hard work and time teachers have dedicated to completing their portfolios and wants to ensure that every educator has the opportunity to submit their work. This extension is intended to provide additional time to complete submissions successfully. 

If there are additional questions, please reach out to the District Portfolio Lead, Ayodele Hall (hallam@scsk12.org).

The deadline to complete all TEM Observations is Friday, May 2.  While there is no extension offered, Administrators may continue to complete observations until May 23.  After this date, ALL SY24-25 TEM plans will be archived.  Once plans are archived, no further edits can be made. Please use the evaluation dashboard to check your location's completion percentage.

Professionalism represents 5% of an educator's final evaluation score and must be finalized by the educator and administrator by May 9. Please use the evaluation dashboard to check your location's status. 

100% of TEAM Cycle 2 Observations should be completed and finalized by Friday, May 23.

Questions? Contact EPS by email: eps@scsk12.org or phone:(901) 416-2475.

The DEADLINE to complete ALL NIE End-Of-Year Conferences are as follows:

• School-based - May 16th 
• Central Office – June 13th 

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:   

• The Goal Setting Conference AND Mid-Year Conference should be completed in its entirety BEFORE completing the End-of-Year Conference in PLZ.

Note: Staff who have not completed the Goal-Setting Conference will need to do so.

The Mid-Year Conference is NOT required for NIE Partial plans and will not appear as a container to complete.

Please use the evaluation dashboard to check your location's status.

Questions? Reach out to Evaluation and Support via email (EPS@scsk12.org) or phone (901) 416-2475.

PLC Coaches and school-level planning teams for Title I and non-Title I schools will engage in learning and/or receive a refresher on the requirements and updates for completing the Explore Data, Analyze Needs & Root Cause Analysis, Reflect to Plan, and Develop Plan sections of the school improvement plan. Sign up via the link below for one of the two offerings.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Location: TBA

Attendees will need their InformTN single sign-on (SSO) account login and charged device. Title I schools contact your Federal Programs Advisor if you do not have this information prior to your training session; Non-Title I schools contact Chrystal Burton - burtoncp@scsk12.org.

Registration link:  School Improvement Plan (SIP) Training

Spring Student Perception Survey data is available in the Surveys Dashboard. See the user guide here.

The K-8 RTI2 Universal Screener window is open. Monitor student progress using the i-Ready reports in Student Assessment and the RTI-A Dashboard. See the Student Assessment user guides and the RTI-A user guides for more information.

C.O.M.E. to Win 8th 20-day data is available for non-charter schools and will be available to all schools on 5/13. See the user guide here.
---------------------------- 

Upcoming Training Sessions:

Check out our Training Calendar for all upcoming District Trainings.
---------------------------- 

No Virtual Office Hours sessions will be held this week. But next week (5/20 and 5/22), we will have an Open Forum Q&A session. So, bring your questions!

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

Programming Note: During the months of June and July VOH will be bi-weekly. We will return to weekly sessions in August.

---------------------------- 

New to Power BI? Sign Up for a Power BI New User Training session. Look for Course Code 34810 in PLZ to sign up.
 

Refresher Sessions are available for anyone who attended the New User Training previously and wants more advanced skills. Look for Course Code 34812 in PLZ to sign up.
---------------------------- 

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. 
---------------------------- 

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.   

State Reporting - School Bus Ridership Process Guide: We request your assistance with identifying all school bus riders (GenEd and SPED). To ensure a seamless process, the ridership reporting will take place in PowerSchool. Attached is a step-by-step guide that should be followed to identify all bus riders. 

This required reporting process has substantial budgeting implications for our district. It is imperative that we complete the reporting timely to ensure transmission to the State. We request that all schools with bus riders complete the process by May 9, 2025.

If you have any questions regarding the process or need assistance, please contact Stacy Lurry at 901-416-7899 or lurrys@scsk12.org. 

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:457db591-ff99-4e01-aea7-f19381c2cb6b