Alexis Marshall
Alexis Marshall is WPLN News’s education reporter. She is a Middle Tennessee native and started listening to WPLN as a high schooler in Murfreesboro. She got her start in public radio freelance producing for NPR and reporting at WMOT, the on-campus station at MTSU. She was the reporting intern at WPLN News in the fall of 2018 and afterward an intern on NPR’s Education Desk. Alexis returned to WPLN in 2020 as a newscast producer and took over the education beat in 2022. Marshall contributes regularly to WPLN's partnership with Nashville Noticias, a Spanish language news program, and studies Arabic. When she's not reporting, you can find her cooking, crocheting or foraging for mushrooms.
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Tennessee lawmakers are returning to the capitol after a week-long closure due to snow and frigid temperatures. As the session gets underway, education issues will be a top priority. Especially Gov. Bill Lee’s universal school voucher proposal.
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Some members of Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s own party have raised concerns about the statewide voucher program he proposed last week.
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Gov. Bill Lee announced his support Tuesday for expanding a controversial school voucher program to all income levels and areas of Tennessee. The program, which the Lee administration is calling “Education Freedom Scholarships” would give participating families a little over $7,000 to attend private school or homeschool.
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Federal officials have told 16 states that they've been underfunding their Historically Black Colleges and Universities by some $12 billion. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Oct. 6, 2023.)
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Federal officials told 16 states that they've been underfunding their Historically Black Colleges and Universities by some $12 billion. Tennessee State University had the biggest loss.
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A group representing teachers from across Tennessee has filed a lawsuit against state officials over a ban on certain “prohibited concepts” in the classroom. The law bans certain lessons about racism, gender and privilege. Plaintiffs in the suit say the policy interferes with teachers’ ability to do their jobs and “deprives students of a quality education.”
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As Tennessee families prepare to send their kids back to school, some are bracing for their second first day of third grade. To better understand Tennessee’s high stakes test, it’s important to know the history.
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Tennessee’s top education official is stepping down from her post. Penny Schwinn has served as education commissioner since 2019, implementing major logistical and academic changes.
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Tennessee’s legislature has tweaked its law aimed at improving third grade literacy. But the changes won’t take effect until next school year, and even then, they’re far from an overhaul. That means this year’s third graders will face the consequences of a law that parents, teachers and school district officials have spent months fighting to change.
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Tennessee’s Senate has passed narrow exceptions to the state’s abortion ban, which is among the strictest in the country. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.