Ensure access and exposure to rigorous instruction to create opportunities for boys of color to help prepare them for the world.

Goal

• Increase the SCS average ACT score by 1 point in 2020 to 18 for African –American Males

Strategies

• Communicate ACT workshops
• Focus on material that depends on rote memorization, evaluating time management, and setting a target score

Eliminate the school to prison pipeline by providing intensified restorative discipline practices district-wide.

Goal

• Increase attendance to 95% Reduce OSS by 5% (<15%)
• Reduce OSS by 5% (<15%)

Strategies

• Build a strong culture of attendance beginning in K-5 and for after-school programs
• Target students with at-risk levels of absence for recruitment and engagement in after-school programming
• Share data on program and school attendance

We will recruit  African American males in grades K-5 to diversify our teacher pipeline.

Goal

• Induct, support and retain 50 black male educators in grades K-5 for 2020

Strategies

• Partner with Man-Up, University of Memphis, Lemoyne –Owen, and HBCUs to attract and recruit
• Support and retain our black male teachers during our Secure the Chalk Educator Fellowship

Provide a Band of Brothers for laser-like support in tutoring to increase literacy as well as mentoring to champion the work of successful men.

Goal

• Begin Band of Brothers mentoring for 38126, 38108, 38107 for focus groups and student voice to increase social-emotional well- being, improve school engagement and academic attainment, increase utilization of safe and healthy behaviors by 2/20/2020

Strategies

• Capture student voice from 1,000 black boys in elementary, middle, and high school by October 2019 to tailor our mentoring program based on their needs

We will establish an equity institute to train all educators to interrupt patterns of implicit bias, social inequality, and internalized oppression.

Goal

• Initialize course one to support principals and staff on implicit bias and internalized oppression
• Invest in organizational capacity and a considerable time and effort into professional development

Strategies

• Collaborate to formulate a common definition of equity in education and examine its historical perspective
• Assign Equity Champions from each school to attend training in the four sessions

Foster strategic partnerships and build alliances through our equity advisory committee that will feature representation from philanthropy, non-profit, government, and business sectors.

Goal

Initialize the Equity Advisory Committee to find synergies across the work of black male achievement

Strategies

• Build partnerships and networks to ensure our 7 strategies are coordinated across sectors and geographic areas
• Address the need for longer funding commitments and lead the work on how they help mentor

"The intentional strategic work has begun. I'm glad to see the advisory committee, the Office of Equity, and the launching of the program. But more needs to happen before we can claim that a district wide culture has been adopted. Please count me in." - Mauricio Calvo, Latino Memphis

Our equity office will design an equity evaluation matrix to drive practices in our District and schools to prioritize achievement through the lens of literacy, school climate/culture, discipline, as well as mastery for college and career readiness.

Goal

• Open the Equity Office July 2020
• Enact an equity policy that will be fundamental to the overall health of our district

Strategies

• Assess the practices, policies, and behaviors of the school system, with a focus on access to academic programs, teacher recruitment, discipline and student achievement. Spear headed the creation of an equity institute to train employees and provide professional learning
• Create an equity scorecard loaded with critical data that grades the district via four metrics: literacy, college-and-career readiness, school climate and culture, and discipline. The data will helped focus the community conversation and strengthened efforts to improve outcomes for certain students