Original Research by School Decision on Cornerstone Prep School
Cornerstone Prep School is a public charter school in Memphis serving only kindergarten and first grade. Its enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic. Because the school does not serve grades that take Tennessee’s state assessments—those begin in third grade—no state testing data are available to describe academic performance. There is also no graduation rate, since the school does not extend into high school. A parent will find no test-score picture for this school, which is typical for a school of this grade band.
The school operates under the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, a statewide authorizer that took over charter school oversight in 2021 and has been expanding its portfolio of schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Murfreesboro. The commission directly authorizes a growing number of charter schools, and Cornerstone Prep is one of them. The school sits within Memphis, a large city with a dense network of public amenities: riverfront parks like Tom Lee Park, which underwent a major renovation; Shelby Farms Park, one of the country’s largest urban parks; cultural landmarks that include the National Civil Rights Museum, Graceland, Sun Studio, and the Stax Museum; and professional sports at FedExForum. The Memphis Area Transit Authority provides bus service across the city.
Housing in the area around the school is below the national and Tennessee medians in value, and rents are modest relative to the state average. The broader economic context includes a mortgage rate around the national level and a moderate unemployment rate.
For a family considering this school, the central takeaway is that it offers a very early elementary entry point—just kindergarten and first grade. There are no published outcomes yet in the form of test scores or graduation data, and that is by design for a school serving such young children. A parent would want to look into what the school’s approach to early literacy and numeracy looks like, how it supports students who are English learners or have disabilities (no data on either was reported), and what the school’s plan is for the grades beyond first, since the school’s grade span ends there. The school’s charter status means it is publicly funded but operates with some independence from the traditional Shelby County school system, and it is overseen by a commission that has been adding schools at a steady pace. The surrounding Memphis community offers a wide range of cultural and recreational options, but the immediate neighborhood’s housing stock is more affordable than citywide averages. The school’s enrollment is small enough that families may find a close-knit setting, but the absence of performance indicators means a parent will need to visit, talk with staff, and understand the instructional model directly.
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