In 2011 residents of Shelby County voted to disband Memphis City schools, and merge with
Shelby County Schools. This merge made Shelby County the largest school district in the state of
Tennessee. Shelby county school district has 46,423, 30 elementary schools, 13 middle schools, and 8 high schools.
Contemporary Issues
In elementary school I attended a diverse magnet school and all of the schools in Hamilton
County were governed by one district. The school encouraged students to excel in education.
Graduation rates were high, and there was adequate funding. It is important to look at race, ethnicity, and equality because it has influence of the quality of education. It has also been historically determined that race influences funding and the
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In the mid 1960’s schools were still segregated. There was of course
Radical Behaviorist Critique the civil rights act which pushed the desegregation of schools. Historically Brown vs. Board of
Education launched the movement of equality in education. When that occurred in Memphis, TN it caused the white community to move out of the city rural surrounding areas, this is also known as white flight. At that point, a new school district was formulated called Shelby county school district. This consisted of white affluent families, and students with a higher quality of education.
It left behind majority non-white poorer families in the city limits, which were now, know as
Memphis City Schools. Memphis City residents began to question the quality of education in the city versus the county, and the equality of the school districts. The majority of students in the city were getting a subpar education, and little funding compared to the county which received adequate funding and a quality education. According to Shelby County Schools website in 2012, before the schools were unified Memphis City schools were a minimum of one letter