Education – The Institute

Connect with us

What are you looking for?

opens in a new window opens in a new window opens in a new window

The Institute

Education

IPSR intern Caleb Suggs wins national award

Earns coveted first-place prize in the Hearst collegiate journalism awards

Marc PerrusquiaMarch 3, 2021

The $15 million Educational Epiphany “is overwhelmingly supported by teachers and school leaders,” SCS Superintendent Dr. Joris Ray told the board Tuesday. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

The $15 million Educational Epiphany “is overwhelmingly supported by teachers and school leaders,” SCS Superintendent Dr. Joris Ray told the board Tuesday. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Education

Should Shelby County Schools invest $15 million with literacy consultant?

The beginning of the school year was more difficult and complicated than usual for teachers in Shelby County Schools. The pandemic forced classes to...

David WatersFebruary 22, 2021

Memphis Theological Seminary president Rev. Dr. Jody Hill gets a socially distanced update from recruiter Felecia LaVant while preparing for the upcoming semester on Wednesday, Aug. 19. “The seminary exists to serve congregations, and, in dark times, it becomes clear how essential that work is,” said Hill, who became the seminary’s president in January. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Memphis Theological Seminary president Rev. Dr. Jody Hill gets a socially distanced update from recruiter Felecia LaVant while preparing for the upcoming semester on Wednesday, Aug. 19. “The seminary exists to serve congregations, and, in dark times, it becomes clear how essential that work is,” said Hill, who became the seminary’s president in January. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Education

Seminary accepts challenge of protecting students while teaching them to serve those with potentially fatal virus

“We are not the first people of faith to have lived in a time of pandemic.”

David WatersAugust 21, 2020

Treadwell Elementary School kindergartners (in a file photo) dance. “The reality of reopening school buildings and college campuses is that any missteps could cost lives, particularly among our most vulnerable students and in Black, brown and poor communities,” said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

Treadwell Elementary School kindergartners (in a file photo) dance. “The reality of reopening school buildings and college campuses is that any missteps could cost lives, particularly among our most vulnerable students and in Black, brown and poor communities,” said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

Education

What happens when a Student or teacher tests positive for COVID-19? Schools’ Plans are vague

Memphis area school districts defer details to understaffed health dept.

David WatersJuly 22, 2020

On January 27th, 2020, Grounded launched a pilot curriculum program at East High School in Memphis, bringing artists, luminaries and partners together with over 500 students, faculty and staff members. The entire school loaded into buses and took a field trip to Malco Paradiso to view Grounded’s unreleased film, “Me and the Light.” After the screening, The Grounded team spent the entire day with the students at East High connecting with them, engaging in discussion and sharing their own forms of creative expression. To close the day’s events, East High students participated in a movement arts exercise to promote peace led by Memphis Jookers Lil Buck and Marico “Dr. Rico” Flake. (Photo by Andrea Morales)

On January 27th, 2020, Grounded launched a pilot curriculum program at East High School in Memphis, bringing artists, luminaries and partners together with over 500 students, faculty and staff members. The entire school loaded into buses and took a field trip to Malco Paradiso to view Grounded’s unreleased film, “Me and the Light.” After the screening, The Grounded team spent the entire day with the students at East High connecting with them, engaging in discussion and sharing their own forms of creative expression. To close the day’s events, East High students participated in a movement arts exercise to promote peace led by Memphis Jookers Lil Buck and Marico “Dr. Rico” Flake. (Photo by Andrea Morales)

Education

Lil Buck, Drumma Boy, other artists help East High students ‘Be What a Bullet Can’t Be’

Music, film stars help teacher, students with online learning in pandemic

David WatersJune 21, 2020

theInstitute_audio_cover

theInstitute_audio_cover

The Pandemic

“Digital Divide” Meets Social Divide for Shelby County Students

The COVID crisis is exacerbating Shelby County’s struggles with the “digital divide’’ – the gulf between those who have access to computers and the...

Natasha SenjanovicMay 27, 2020

Amari Ajamu (middle), along with sister Nzinga Ajamu (left), celebrates his Stax Music Academy graduation with a car parade from family and friends on Monday, May 18, 2020. Ajamu, a miracle baby born three months premature 18 years ago, will become a fourth-generation student at Grambling in the fall. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)

Amari Ajamu (middle), along with sister Nzinga Ajamu (left), celebrates his Stax Music Academy graduation with a car parade from family and friends on Monday, May 18, 2020. Ajamu, a miracle baby born three months premature 18 years ago, will become a fourth-generation student at Grambling in the fall. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)

Education

Family loudly, proudly celebrates their fourth-generation Grambling University student

Stax Music Academy grad bound for famed marching band

David WatersMay 19, 2020

As a reward, Saimiya Swift, 4, gets to be the “brain” in the class for a day as children read out loud from the board during Alice Holman’s pre-K class at Porter-Leath’s Douglas Head Start School on April 23, 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

As a reward, Saimiya Swift, 4, gets to be the “brain” in the class for a day as children read out loud from the board during Alice Holman’s pre-K class at Porter-Leath’s Douglas Head Start School on April 23, 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

Education

Part 3: Costly failures come with lessons for ‘teacher town’: Reading success begins at birth

Bush, Obama, Gates pushed reforms, but local innovators have better ideas

David WatersMay 18, 2019

Dontae’vah Walton and Jaida Anderson (right) rearrange letters to spell words from a class reading assignment in Michelle Biggs’ (left) kindergarten class at Keystone Elementary School on April 12, 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

Dontae’vah Walton and Jaida Anderson (right) rearrange letters to spell words from a class reading assignment in Michelle Biggs’ (left) kindergarten class at Keystone Elementary School on April 12, 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

Education

Part 2: Complex Plans, demands challenge reading teachers to be classroom maestros

Top-down reforms can't replace 'skilled and knowledgeable teacher'

David WatersMay 17, 2019

Madison Clark (left), Ayanna Hughes, La’kiya Carr and Jaylen King work at an easel where they color their reading assignment in Thomas Denson’s Pre-K class at Cherokee Elementary School. More than three in four Shelby County elementary students, and four in five middle and high school students, read below grade level. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

Madison Clark (left), Ayanna Hughes, La’kiya Carr and Jaylen King work at an easel where they color their reading assignment in Thomas Denson’s Pre-K class at Cherokee Elementary School. More than three in four Shelby County elementary students, and four in five middle and high school students, read below grade level. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian)

Education

Part 1: Chronic poverty, trauma complicate efforts to close third-grade reading gap in Memphis

"When kids are in survival mode, they can't learn."

David WatersMay 16, 2019