Pearson Education to Score Tenn. Achievement Tests

After terminating its contract with Measurement Inc. in April, the Tennessee Department of Education has hired Pearson Education of New York City to score student assessments for the 2015-16 academic year, state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced Monday, May 16.

The emergency procurement is for the most recent assessments only. The state continues looking for a testing vendor to pick up the pieces of the TNReady effort in a separate contracting process.

McQueen announced in April the state was terminating its contract with Measurement Inc. after the company missed a series of deadlines to send paper copies of the TNReady tests to school districts across the state. That followed the February failure of Measurement Inc.’s online testing platform, which was to be the only way of taking the tests.

This was the first year of TNReady assessments replacing the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP, tests. The TNReady tests were to set a new baseline of student achievement standards in the current school year.

That will be the case for high school students, because those schools received most of their testing material, although they got it late. But by late April all of the state’s school districts were still waiting on some of the material for grades 3-8. And that was when McQueen made the decision to suspend any further testing in those grades.

For those students, the school year that begins in August will be the baseline for measuring their achievement and growth.

The tests also impact how teachers are evaluated and how school systems and individual schools are ranked.

– Bill Dries

Adler Named Principal Of Lakeland Middle

The Lakeland School System has tapped a Shelby County Schools vice principal to be leader of the new Lakeland Middle Preparatory School.

Bolton High vice principal Matt Adler will be principal of the new Lakeland school, whose construction begins next week north of U.S. 70 and east of Canada Road.

Lakeland Middle is scheduled to open in August 2017.

Adler begins working for the Lakeland School System in six weeks to start planning for the opening the grades 5-8 school.

At Bolton, Adler has been coordinator of the school’s International Baccalaureate program. He is also a master teacher and taught standard, honors and AP chemistry when he was head of Bolton’s science department.

– Bill Dries

White House Names Memphis A ‘Summer Impact Hub’

Memphis’ youth job efforts got a boost Monday, May 16, when the White House named the city one of 16 Summer Impact Hubs. The new designation is part of an interagency effort to provide $21 million in tailored support to 16 communities to upgrade and expand jobs, learning, meals and violence-reduction programs for youth this summer and year-round.

Through the program, Memphis will receive a federal “Summer Ambassador,” who will spend the spring and summer partnering with the Office of Youth Services to meet the city’s goals by leveraging federal resources, breaking down agency silos, and building new local and national partnerships. Specifically, the ambassador will focus on the Memphis Ambassadors Program (MAP) and the MPLOY Youth Summer Experience program.

Ike Griffith, the director of the Memphis Office of Youth Services, has already started working with ambassador Dr. Cheri Hoffman.

Efforts in the 16 Summer Impact Hubs are being supported by more than a dozen federal agencies.

– Daily News staff

New Daisy Planning 74th Birthday Bash

The New Daisy Theatre is celebrating its 74th birthday in a few weeks and is inviting the public to celebrate it with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic.

That event will be held at the New Daisy on June 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $35 to $40.

For the next three weeks, the New Daisy will also share archival content, show reviews, photos, trivia and more through its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The venue also wants to hear from patrons with stories, photos and memories and is issuing an open call to bands who’ve played the New Daisy stage to submit photos to be used for a collage.

Those can be sent to marketing@newdaisy.com.

Partners Steve Adelman and J.W. Gibson took over the location at 330 Beale St. 18 months ago, updating and upgrading everything from the custom state of the art sound and lighting systems to the retiled bathroom floors and spaces in between.

– Andy Meek

2 Self-Storage Facilities Sell for $5 Million

An international real estate investment firm has sold two of its Memphis-area assets in two separate May 3 warranty deeds.

Oaktree Capital Management, acting as SSSP South Rowlett Collierville, sold a Simply Self Storage facility at 651 S. Rowlett St. in Collierville to SS South Rowlett Collierville for $3.9 million.

Built in 1994, the 62,170-square-foot Class B facility is situated on 4 acres at the southeast corner of Rowlett and Cowan Road. The Shelby County Assessor’s 2016 appraisal is $2.3 million..

Oaktree, acting as SSSP North Watkins Frayser, also sold its Simply Self Storage facility at 3969 N. Watkins St. for $1.1 million to SS North Watkins Frayser. That facility, which measures 72,580 square feet, was built in 1979 and has a 2016 appraisal of $1.2 million.

Justin Guichard, managing director at Oaktree Capital, and Sam Averbach, vice president at Oaktree Capital, signed as registered agents for the seller.

– Madeline Faber

Crye-Leike Grows Franchise Team

Memphis-based Crye-Leike Realtors has expanded its franchise sales team. Hank Hogue has been named director of franchise sales for Crye-Leike. He previously served as principal and managing broker of Crye-Leike’s Cordova branch.

In his role, Hogue will develop new franchise relationships in and around the company’s nine-state market region. Crye-Leike has 29 franchise offices nationwide, with regional offices in Brentwood, Tenn., and Cordova, along with 84 corporate-owned branch offices.

– Madeline Faber

FedEx Giving $1M Gift To LeMoyne-Owen

FedEx Corp. says it is giving a $1 million gift to LeMoyne-Owen College for information techology upgrades.

FedEx senior vice president Shannon A. Brown announced the gift at LeMoyne-Owen’s commencement ceremonies Saturday in Memphis.

College chief information officer John Ruffin says in a statement that the gift will help improve the automation and streamlining of admissions, financial aid and other business operations.

In addition to the gift, FedEx announced it also will establish a $100,000 endowed scholarship to provide tuition assistance to LeMoyne-Owen students who maintain a 3.0 grade-point average.

– The Associated Press