Crosstown High: Parent Guide to a Project-Based Public Charter High School

Crosstown High is a public charter high school in Memphis, Tennessee, located at Crosstown Concourse and organized around project-based and competency-based learning. The school is active, public, and lottery-based, with no selective admissions requirements described in the official materials reviewed for this profile. Families should treat it as a geographically specific public option, not a national model they can access outside Memphis.[1][2][4]

Snapshot facts

Field	Detail
Official name	Crosstown High.[1]
Current operating status	Active. The school publishes current admissions information, leadership, and 2025-26 enrollment demographics.[1][2][3]
Founded	Crosstown High says it opened in 2018 with a founding class of 150 ninth graders and graduated its first class in 2022.[5]
Founding organization or founders	The school describes its design as coming from a 69-person founding design team and community planning process. A complete founder list was not found in the official pages reviewed for this profile.[5][6]
Current leadership	The leadership page lists Erin Johnson as head of school.[3]
Headquarters or primary location	1365 Tower Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.[1][2]
Campus or location footprint	One high school at Crosstown Concourse in Memphis.[1]
Grades served	Grades 9-12. The admissions page says applications are accepted for entering ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders, with no new twelfth-grade admissions.[2][5]
Public, charter, private, or nonprofit status	Public charter high school.[1][6]
Tuition or public funding model	As a public charter school, Crosstown should not be treated as a tuition-charging private school. Families should verify any activity fees, transportation costs, and eligibility rules directly with the school.[1][2]
Admissions model	SchoolMint application and random lottery when applications exceed available spaces. The school states it has no selective entry requirements.[2][5]
Educational model	Project-based learning, competency-based learning, relationship-driven school culture, community-connected projects, and work-based learning for upper grades.[4][5]
Evidence confidence	Strong for model and admissions. Student outcome claims should be checked against the Tennessee State Report Card and school-reported materials before publication.[4][7]

What it is

Crosstown High is a Memphis public charter high school created to use the city and community as part of the learning environment. Its homepage describes the school as a diverse-by-design public charter at Crosstown Concourse and reports 537 students for 2025-26, from 31 zip codes, with 51 percent economically disadvantaged and 30 percent with an IEP or 504 plan. Those figures are school-published and should be updated each year.[1]

The school's public materials are more concrete than many innovation-school sites. Crosstown identifies project-based learning and competency-based learning as central to its academic program. It also says it has no entry requirements or selective admissions, which is important for families who are wary of schools that use innovation language but admit only a narrow slice of students.[4][5]

Educational model

Crosstown's academic page describes learning through authentic issues, cross-subject projects, student choice, local experts and mentors, and cycles of feedback and revision. It frames project-based learning as a schoolwide structure rather than an occasional culminating activity.[4]

The school also describes itself as competency-based. Its academics page says learning is measured by what students can do, that students receive feedback and revise, and that the school uses transferable competencies in addition to state standards. Families should ask how those competencies are converted into credits, grades, and transcripts, and how the school handles students who need more time to demonstrate mastery.[4]

Student experience

Crosstown's student experience appears to combine conventional high school elements with a more open, community-connected project model. The mission page says the school is relationship-driven and emphasizes knowing students well. The academics page describes projects connected to Memphis issues and participation by community experts, mentors, and outside audiences.[4][5]

For juniors and seniors, the academics page describes work-based learning and APEX classes each semester, along with college and career counseling beginning in the junior year. Parents should ask what percentage of students complete internships, work-based learning, or community placements, how placements are secured, and whether transportation or scheduling limits affect access.[4]

Curriculum and instruction

Crosstown's curriculum is built around interdisciplinary projects and competencies, but it remains a public high school accountable to Tennessee standards. The school says projects cross subject boundaries and that state standards are part of the competency framework. That is a useful distinction for parents who want non-traditional instruction without leaving the public accountability system.[4]

Families should ask for examples of ninth-grade, tenth-grade, and upper-grade projects and how core academic skills are taught within them. They should ask how algebra, geometry, writing, science labs, and reading are sequenced, because project-based schools vary widely in how much direct instruction they provide before and during projects.[4]

Public, charter, private, or nonprofit status

Crosstown High is a public charter school, not a private school. Its homepage uses the phrase public charter, and the XQ profile also identifies it as a public charter high school. The admissions page describes a random lottery when applications exceed available seats, rather than a selective academic admissions process.[1][2][6]

Before publication, SchoolDecision should verify the school's current authorizer, charter term, and state accountability status through Tennessee public records or state report card pages. The Tennessee Department of Education report card site is the right independent source for school-level achievement, growth, graduation, postsecondary readiness, discipline, staffing, and funding data, but this batch did not extract a full Crosstown-specific report card.[7]

Locations and availability

Crosstown High is located at 1365 Tower Avenue in Memphis. Its location inside Crosstown Concourse is part of the school's identity, because the building and surrounding community provide access to adult partners, public spaces, and civic context for projects.[1]

Availability is limited by grade and lottery. The admissions page says Crosstown accepts applications for entering ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades only, with no admission into twelfth grade. It also states that students must provide proof of address and that siblings of current students receive priority but must still complete the full application process.[2]

Tuition, admissions, and eligibility

The admissions page describes a priority application window, SchoolMint application, proof-of-address requirements, and a random lottery in mid-January when applications exceed seats. It also says the lottery is not first come, first served. Families should verify current dates each year, because admissions windows and lottery dates change.[2]

The reviewed sources did not list tuition because Crosstown is a public charter school. Parents should still ask about transportation, meals, devices, extracurricular costs, and any required fees. They should also ask whether residence within certain boundaries affects eligibility or priority, since public charter enrollment rules can depend on state law and charter terms.[1][2]

Evidence and outcomes

The evidence for Crosstown's model is reasonably strong because the school publishes specific statements about projects, competencies, work-based learning, and admissions. XQ's profile adds context about the school's design process and national innovation-school recognition, but XQ should be treated as a supporting education source, not as an independent performance auditor.[4][6]

For outcomes, the state report card should be the first independent source. Before making any claim about achievement, growth, graduation, or college readiness, SchoolDecision should pull Crosstown-specific data from the Tennessee Department of Education report card and label whether each figure comes from the state, the school, or another source.[7]

Best fit

Crosstown may fit students who want a public high school that connects academics to Memphis, community partners, and project work. It may be a strong option for students who want more voice and application in their learning but still need a structured public school day.[1][4]

It may be less suitable for families who want a traditional course sequence, a broad menu of AP or athletic offerings typical of a large comprehensive high school, guaranteed admission, or admission into twelfth grade. It is also not a practical option for families outside the Memphis area unless they can satisfy the school's residence and enrollment requirements.[2]

Questions parents should ask

Parents should ask how many seats are available by grade, how the lottery works, whether any residence or sibling priorities apply, and what the historical waitlist movement has been. They should also ask whether transportation is provided or family-managed.[2]

Academic questions should focus on the bridge between project work and transcript requirements. Parents should ask how competencies are graded, how students recover credit, what supports exist for students below grade level, how special education services are delivered in projects, and what state report card data show for recent years.[4][7]

Sources

[1] "Crosstown High," Crosstown High, https://crosstownhigh.org/, accessed June 7, 2026.
[2] "Apply," Crosstown High, https://crosstownhigh.org/apply, accessed June 7, 2026.
[3] "Leadership," Crosstown High, https://crosstownhigh.org/leadership, accessed June 7, 2026.
[4] "Academics," Crosstown High, https://crosstownhigh.org/academics, accessed June 7, 2026.
[5] "Mission and Vision," Crosstown High, https://crosstownhigh.org/mission-vision, accessed June 7, 2026.
[6] "Crosstown High," XQ Institute, https://xqsuperschool.org/where-we-work/crosstown-high/, accessed June 7, 2026.
[7] "Tennessee State Report Card," Tennessee Department of Education, https://www.tn.gov/education/families/report-card.html, accessed June 7, 2026.