High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) embedded with EL strategies support access to grade-level content, but their use alone does not constitute evidence of implementation of the Tennessee English Language Development (ELD) Standards. Content teachers with English Learners in the classroom are required to use the Tennessee ELD standards in lesson plans. Teachers should include language objectives in lesson prep, in addition to the ELD and content standards. 

The District has transitioned to LanguageLine Solutions for on-demand interpretation and translation services. LanguageLine Solutions interpreters are available in more than 240 languages and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to communicate with our multilingual families. Please follow these instructions to access LanguageLine:   

To access a phone interpreter, please follow these steps:   

Dial: 1-866-874-3972  

Provide: Client ID 666137    

Press: 1 for Spanish – 2 for All Other Languages; If 2, indicate Language  

Provide: School Location Code   

As you wrap up scheduling for the upcoming school year, please ensure ESL teachers are included in conversations with administrators and counselors to support appropriate placement and services for multilingual learners. Their input, along with ESL course codes and placement guidance, is essential to ensuring students are positioned for academic and linguistic success. If you have questions or would like to schedule additional training, please contact your ESL Advisor.    

Now that ELPA21 scores have been delivered, invitations will be sent out soon for ELPA21 Data Meetings. We will be discussing ELPA21 test scores and the growth ESL students have made. 

First- and second-year ESL teachers are invited to participate in ESL 101 Summer Kick Off on July 16. Topics will include ESL basics, compliance mandates, and basic instructional strategies. Please reach out to us if you have any new ESL teachers so that we can invite them directly. Please email Steven Kuhn at kuhns@scsk12.org or Stacy Tanner at tanners@scsk12.org.  

Office of Enrollment, Attendance, and Truancy Leaderboard

Enrollment & School Choice

2026-27 School Choice Portal 

The School Choice Transfer portal remains open for the 2026-27 school year. Please continue sharing the following details with families to assist them with the application process.

Application Access

• How to Apply: Families can visit www.scsk12.org from any device to submit their transfer requests.

Who Needs to Apply?

• New Applicants: Students seeking a transfer for the first time.
• Transitioning Students: Students moving up a school level (e.g., rising 6th or 9th graders).
• Note: Current General Choice students staying at their school in good standing do not need to reapply.

School Responsibilities

To support our goals of recruiting, retaining, and reclaiming students, schools are encouraged to host open houses and showcase their programs to families.

2026-2027 Registration: Now Open for All Students

Registration for the 2026-2027 school year is open for all new and returning students. Families can complete the process and update their information at any time via the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

Administrative Actions

• Visibility: Post registration hours and instructions in highly visible areas and at all school entrances.
• Support Events: Schedule Registration Night(s) to assist families. Coordinate with the Office of Enrollment and Attendance if you require additional support.
• All Registration Team members are required to complete refresher training via PLZ.
• For questions or enrollment support, contact Stacey Davis at daviss2@scsk12.org.

Student Health & Eligibility: Immunizations and Physicals

• To ensure students are cleared and ready for the 2026-27 school year, families needing updated immunizations or physicals can submit required consent to ShotRX Health and Wellness Solutions.
• Please share the link below with your school community: ShotRx901

MSCS Kindergarten Enrollment & Eligibility Guide

Enrollment Requirements

• Age Eligibility: To enroll for the 2026-27 school year, students must be 5 years old on or before August 15, 2026.
• Registration Deadline: Per state law, new kindergarteners cannot be enrolled after the first 30 days of the school year (September 30, 2026). Previously enrolled students may be accepted at any time.
• Health Documentation: Proof of a physical examination and a complete immunization record must be submitted at the time of enrollment. Students will not be permitted to enroll until these records are provided.

Early Entrance Screening (2026-27 School Year) 

MSCS provides screening for children who turn 5 between August 16 and September 30, 2026, to determine eligibility for early kindergarten entry.

• Timeline: Scheduling begins May 18
• Process: The Assessment Department will coordinate school-based screenings with parental consent. A registration link will be sent to parents from the department.
• Appointments: To schedule a screening outside of the school setting, please contact the Assessment Department directly.
• Cut-off: Children turning 5 after September 30, 2026, are not eligible for screening and may enroll in the fall of 2027.

Official Registration Portal: scsk12.org/registration/kindergarten   

"Pop Out & Register" Enrollment Event

Please share the following information with your school families and parents to encourage attendance at this upcoming district enrollment event.

Event Overview: The Memphis-Shelby County Schools "Pop Out & Register" event is designed to help families prepare for the upcoming school year with direct, hands-on support.

• Date: Monday, June 8
• Time: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
• Location: Parent Welcome Center (2687 Avery Ave., Memphis, TN 38112)

What’s Available for Families:

• On-Site Registration Assistance: Direct help to get students enrolled for the new school year.
• School Choice Options: Information and guidance on school selection.
• Resources to ensure students are ready for day one.
• Perks: Free food and prizes will be available for the first 50 families (or while supplies last)!

Contact Information: For questions or additional details, please contact us at: studentservices@scsk12.org or (901) 416-2989.

MULTILINGUAL SUMMER REGISTRATION HUBS

We're thrilled to announce the launch of our Multilingual Registration Hubs! This initiative brings district resources directly to our community, making enrollment, attendance support, and school assistance accessible for all families, with a special focus on our multilingual families.

DATES & TIME

• June 9 – July 22, 2026
• 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

LOCATIONS & DAYS

• Tuesdays: Latino Memphis
  • 6041 Mt. Moriah Rd. Ext., Ste 16
• Wednesdays: Gaisman Community Center
  • 4221 Macon Rd.

All required Student Growth Portfolio submissions for eligible teachers were due in TNPortfolio on May 8. The submission window is now closed. Portfolio scores will be available in the TeachAll platform on July 6. The overall portfolio score is determined by averaging the four evidence collection growth scores and converting that average to a scaled level from 1-5. 

A portfolio will be assigned an Incomplete (I) and the teacher’s LOE (Level of Overall Effectiveness) score will NOT generate for the 2025-26 school year if any of the four collections were not 100% complete by the deadline. These educators will also be assigned to the Novice track in PLZ for SY26-27 and will receive 4 observations. 

If you have questions regarding Student Growth Portfolios, please contact Floresha Smith, District Portfolio Lead.

The DEADLINE to complete ALL Central Office NIE End-Of-Year Conferences is June 12.

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

Questions? Please reach out to eps@scsk12.org.

ALL TEM containers will be archived Friday, May 29, by 5 p.m.  Once these plans are archived, no further edits or additions can be made.  

Please review Power Bi to review your location's completion status.

• Evaluation KPI Dashboard SY2025-2026  

Be reminded, if any components are left incomplete, the educator will not receive an LOE and will be placed on the track with the maximum number of observations (4) for the 2026-27 school year. 

If the overall green check is missing from any of the Observations or Professionalism container, please reach out to Employee Performance & Support via email, EPS@scsk12.org, or phone (901) 416-2475.

MSCS School Leaders,

As we wrap up an incredible school year, we want to provide a transparent update regarding the review, authorization, and processing timeline for Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) stipends.

First, we want to extend a huge thank you to all the principals who successfully submitted their required ILT Leads documentation right on time for the May 8th deadline. Having your completed frameworks in place has been instrumental in moving this massive workstream forward.

To help manage expectations across your teams, please review the current status and next steps for these disbursements:

• Rigorous Review Process: We are currently in the middle of the formal review and authorization stage for all district ILT stipend submissions. Due to the high volume and the precise verification required to ensure audit readiness, this standard evaluation takes a thorough window of time to fully clear, rather than a quick two-week turnaround.
• Next Steps for Payroll: Once our leadership development team completes this essential verification stage, we will immediately advance the approved submissions to the payroll department for final processing.
• Disbursement Window: ILT Lead members can comfortably expect these stipend disbursements to hit checks this summer.

Thank you so much for your patience, your exceptional leadership, and your continued partnership as we work diligently to ensure all of our dedicated educators are taken care of.

Shining a light on your leadership,

Dr. Daniel L. Jack

As part of the monthly newsletter, the DAIM team is publishing the Empowering Your Data Story report to promote Power BI usage. This report highlights schools that go above and beyond in their use of Power BI and the MSCS Compass. You can find more information about this campaign here.

You can see pictures of recipients, with their awards, on our Hall of Fame page.

April Winners:

• Hawkins Mill Elementary
• Cummings School
• Trezevant High School

Featured Updates:

• The Promotional Pathways Report in the Literacy Commitment dashboard is available to track the promotional status of students in grades 3 and 4. When published, data from Preliminary TCAP, Retake TCAP, and Aimsweb Plus 3 will all be available. Schools will be able to see which students are required/optional for SLA in addition to the promotional status for those in grade 3. Some grade 4 results will not be available until July when Adequate Growth data is available. Click here to see the user guide.
   
• You can use the Promotional Pathways Report to easily pull a list of third grade students eligible for SLA and a list of students eligible for appeals. Click here for more information.
   
• The Summer Learning Academy dashboard is updated and available to track SLA attendance and enrollment. The dashboard is scheduled to refresh daily at 12 p.m. Click here to see the user guides.
   
• Data for both the 8th 20-Day and 9th 20-Day periods is available in the Show Up for Greatness report. Note that because of shifting calendars during the year, the 9th 20-Day period only includes five (5) instructional days. Click here to see the user guide for this report.
   
• Q4 Report Card Grades is available in the Student Grades dashboard. Grades data populates after Report Cards are distributed and grades are stored/finalized in PowerSchool. Check out the user guides for more details on the grade reports.

Coming Soon:

• On June 17, DAIM will begin our Rollover Summer Maintenance Process for the 2026-2027 school year. During this time, most dashboards will temporarily stop refreshing/updating. There will be exceptions for SLA and Literacy Commitment, which will continue updating regularly until early July. New users and employees with new school assignments will not have access until this process is complete for the start of school in August.

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Upcoming Training Sessions:

No Virtual Office Hours this week. We will return on June 16 and June 18 with sessions on Summer Learning Academy Dashboard.

For more information on Virtual Office Hours, check out this flyer! Sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. 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.
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Check out our Training Calendar for all upcoming District Trainings.

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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.