From the University of Memphis, Meah King has a Bachelor of Arts in English, master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and graduate certificate in urban education. Ms. King will complete her doctorate in urban education in December 2020. As an educator in Shelby County Schools at East High School, Ms. King has over 15 years of experience in classroom instruction and as an interventionist. As Faculty Champion for the Peer Power Foundation—a program that employs high school and college students to provide enrichment, intervention, and mentoring for urban and rural students—Meah is afforded the opportunity to serve as a liaison between different businesses and schools to provide effective academic intervention and provide an exposure curriculum to maximize opportunities for students to become assets to society. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society and the Golden Key International Honor Society. Meah is the recipient of the following educator accolades: Educator of the Year by Memphis Alliance of Black School Educators (2008), University of Memphis Arts & Science Department Young Alumni of the Year (2009), Memphis City Schools Prestige Award (2010), Memphis City Schools Golden Apple Award (2011), Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award (2011), and NAACP Mahogany Young Alumni of the Year Award (2012). In 2013, she was the keynote speaker for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ECET2 Conference and was invited to several other conferences to speak and advocate education and educators. Meah is a 2017-18 fellow of the State Collaborative of Reform Education for the state of Tennessee. As an educator, Ms. King promotes excellence in instructional strategies, classroom management approaches, creating instructional frameworks, expert in project based learning, creating exposure opportunities, college and career readiness frameworks, cultural relevant pedagogy, and educational reform.
Her “Create a Hero” project charges students with choosing an idyllic mythological character and then building those attributes into a heroic archetype. King also has her students pen Harlem Renaissance poetry and engage in Socratic questioning. And she champions Peer Power academic tutoring between college and high school students.
King’s students consistently earn the highest grades in the building and the highest gains in the region. She helped East High chart a 93-percent proficient-advanced rate in language arts. As ACT prep teacher, King helped her school gain two points per student average on the pre- and post-tests.
A mentor to new and veteran teachers, King is a hard-working leader in her school and a regular presence on district committees. She is co-advisor for Future Teachers of America and sits on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation committee. A member of the Site-Based Decision Making Council and the Writing Task Force, King developed a Reading and Learning Strategies workshop. She also participated in a teacher roundtable at East High with Governor Bill Haslam, Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman and Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash.
