Perhaps some of our readers in Memphis can explain what is going on.
YES Prep, the charter chain founded by Chris Barbic, has announced that it is leaving Memphis.
Chris Barbic left YES Prep to become the leader of the Tennessee “Achievement School District,” appointed by former state Commissioner Kevin Huffman. The goal of the ASD is to replace low-performing public schools with high-performing charter schools. Barbic pledged that he would take the state’s lowest-performing public schools (the bottom 5%) and raise their achievement to the top 20% in the state within five years. YES Prep was part of his strategy.
YES Prep issued a statement saying that they wanted to proceed grade by grade but the community wanted them to take over entire schools.
Barbic expressed disappointment that the charter chain he founded was backing out of Memphis.
Is there more to the story? Other states (for example, Georgia) say they too want a statewide “Achievement School District,” just like Tennessee. YES Prep is the fourth charter operator to leave Tennessee. What is going on?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They are afraid of bad press. They especially do not want to be labelled racist. Many African-American parents here are protesting charter takeovers. With the increased scrutiny, they are also probably afraid they won’t be able to use their favored strategy of “counseling out” the kids with the toughest problems (of which we have many in Memphis).
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This article may answer at least some of the questions surrounding the YesPrep departure. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet–but I will soon. http://www.bluffcityed.com/2015/03/why-did-yes-prep-quit/
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The author of that article worked closely with the ASD during the community “revolt” against state takeover. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, but why isn’t his post more jubilant that community activists got what they were fighting for? I’m afraid he is too empathetic toward the state takeover district for my taste.
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The ASD is turning all of their Memphis schools over to charter school operators. They realize that they can’t bring the bottom schools up to the top in five years. Memphis is a close knit community, and Barbic and company are learning that the teachers of Memphis have been doing a great job all along. Poverty is the problem here. Until the poverty is addressed, you can only achieve so much. When children have no heat, little food, and parents who are depressed and overwhelmed at home, then test scores don’t seem like such a big deal.
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Could it be that these charter operators are finding out that their usual bag of tricks won’t work if they are forced to run a whole district instead of cherry-picking and screening out the non-performing students
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