The top reported proficiency rate is 16% in Social studies. The lowest is 6% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Achievement School District
The Achievement School District is not a typical school district. It is a special-purpose, state-run turnaround district created by Tennessee to take over schools that had been identified as the lowest-performing, and operate them as charter schools under state management. Its sole geographic tie is to the state of Tennessee; it does not correspond to a single town or community. The district spans multiple cities, with schools concentrated in Memphis and Nashville, but its boundaries are defined by school performance, not by neighborhood attendance zones. For any family whose child attends an ASD school, the key fact is that this district is being dismantled.
The legislation to dissolve the ASD passed the Tennessee House in spring 2025, with a planned transition beginning in the 2026-27 school year. All remaining ASD schools are to be returned to the oversight of their local districts, meaning Memphis-Shelby County Schools or Metro Nashville Public Schools. This is not a hypothetical change: the district has already contracted dramatically, from more than two dozen schools a few years ago to just a handful in the most recent school year. Most families who were in ASD schools have already moved to local district governance or to the oversight of the state’s Public Charter School Commission. For anyone reading this today, the ASD is effectively a closing entity.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a sizable Hispanic population and very few white or Asian students. The grade span covers pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, and enrollment is concentrated in the middle grades, with smaller numbers in early elementary and high school. Data on economic disadvantage, special education, and English learner status were not available in the source materials, so those lines are simply absent.
Academic achievement numbers are very low across all tested subjects. On the state’s TNReady assessments for grades three through eight, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above was in the single digits for math and English language arts, and only somewhat higher in science and social studies. Participation rates were high, so these results reflect the full tested population. The district’s overall proficiency index placed it above the midpoint among the small set of districts in Davidson County, though it is important to note that the comparison set is limited and the absolute performance level remains far below typical statewide averages. The chronic absenteeism rate, however, landed in the bottom quartile of the same comparison set, meaning a very large share of students missed enough school to be considered chronically absent.
A publicly reported study from Brown University, published in 2024, found that the ASD did not produce significant improvements in student test scores or graduation rates and may have contributed to weaker high school outcomes. That research, widely cited in the legislative debate, formed part of the rationale for dissolving the district.
For a parent or resident trying to understand this entity today, the most practical takeaway is that the ASD is not a stable or continuing option. Any student currently enrolled will soon be part of a different district with a different structure, governance, and set of schools. The academic record of the ASD is well documented and sobering, but the entity itself is in its final chapter. The relevant question for families is not what the ASD offers, but what their child’s receiving district will provide.
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