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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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.” -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
Thousands of people rallied outside Tennessee’s capitol building on Monday demanding stronger gun laws, while inside Republican leaders largely avoided talk of new restrictions on firearms. -
Hundreds of community members gathered in Public Square Park Wednesday evening to mourn the six victims of Monday’s mass shooting at the Covenant School. -
At least six people — three children and three adults — were killed when a 28-year-old woman opened fire at a small Christian school in Nashville. The shooter was then killed by police.
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The outdoor recreation industry is overwhelmingly white. A new program at Tennessee State University aims to change that by getting more HBCU students involved in the outdoors.
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Republican Bill Lee was inaugurated as governor of Tennessee on Saturday for his second four-year term.
