North Star Project

A five-year plan to solve Memphis’s literacy crisis, starting with the classroom.

Fewer than 25% of Memphis students read proficiently by third grade, the single strongest predictor of long-term academic success. Compass and Memphis Teacher Residency are changing that.

North Star Project

A five-year plan to solve Memphis’s literacy crisis, starting with the classroom.

Fewer than 25% of Memphis students read proficiently by third grade, the single strongest predictor of long-term academic success. Compass and Memphis Teacher Residency are changing that.

Young Compass student raising her hand in class

The Problem: A 30-Year Crisis Needs More Than a Program

Research is clear: the most powerful lever for preventing reading failure isn’t curriculum or funding, it’s effective, evidence-based instruction. Memphis has spent three decades without that lever. The North Star Project is the first initiative in the Mid-South built entirely around it.

“Teaching and teachers hold the key to the literacy of high-poverty students. Educating the teachers, and building professional contexts in which they can do their valuable work, is as serious a business as educating the young students.”
Moats & Foorman, 2008, p. 107

The Strategy: Four Pillars, One Network-Wide Standard

  • Teacher Training: Every K-3 teacher trained in the Science of Reading

  • Instructional Coaching: School-based coaches embedded in every Compass campus

  • Network Leadership: Implementation fidelity backed by strong network oversight

  • Expanded Support: Family engagement, after-school tutoring, and summer learning

The Goal: What Success Looks Like by Year Five

  • 90% K-3 reading proficiency across the network

  • 100% of K-3 teachers trained in evidence-based literacy instruction

  • 85%+ teacher retention among participating staff

  • A pipeline of internal literacy leaders inside Compass schools

Proof It Works: Compass Orange Mound

Orange Mound set a shared goal: 90% Kindergarten literacy proficiency. Here’s the trajectory so far.

33%

Before implementation

56%

Year 1

77%

Year 2

90%

The goal

This year’s results: coming soon.

Compass Orange Mound students practicing letters with a learning game
Compass teacher coaching a student in class

Why It Matters Beyond Compass

North Star doesn’t just change outcomes inside Compass. K-3 classrooms become active training labs for pre-service and in-service teachers across the city, so the impact of better instruction reaches beyond our six campuses.

Start your journey with us today!

Interested in enrolling your child for the upcoming school year? This is your ticket to a world-class education.

Start your journey with us today!

Interested in enrolling your child for the upcoming school year? This is your ticket to a world-class education.