What We’re Learning: Updated Data Underscore Unique Features and Challenges for Each MNPS District

Although many of us are quick to associate school leadership with teachers, principals, and superintendents, it is important to remember that many of the key decisions made on behalf of Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and our community are made by our city’s nine school board members. 

2020 brings another school board election cycle for Nashville – this time for districts 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. As such, there’s no time like the present for all local voters to re-familiarize themselves both with the responsibilities of the MNPS school board and with the schools and students served in each of these nine districts. 

To aid in this pursuit, the Scarlett Family Foundation is excited to release an updated version of our District Data Pages, a collection of profiles featuring achievement, student culture, and teacher data for each MNPS school board district. 

These updated pages, consisting of data from the 2018-19 school year, reveal to us a few notable themes.

Total student enrollment has changed dramatically, but only in certain districts.

The most significant decreases in total enrollment can be found in District 1 (North Nashville), which saw a drop of 1,002 students from 2016-17 to 2018-19, and in District 5 (Central & East Nashville), which saw a loss of nearly 4,000 students from 2016-17 to 2018-19. During the same time, District 6 (South Nashville) experienced a boom in student enrollment, growing from 10,765 students in 2016-17 to 13,771 in 2018-19.

The MNPS student body has become increasingly diverse.

When our 2016-17 District Data Pages were assembled, only District 2 (South Nashville)’s student population was so diverse that it had no racial or ethnic majority. The 2018-19 data show that the same can now be said for District 4 (Central & East Nashville). Only in Districts 1, 5 and 8 does any single racial or ethnic demographic group make up 50% or more of the entire student population.

More Nashville students are attending charter schools.

This trend is particularly evident in Central & East Nashville (District 5), where the percentage of students attending public charter schools increased from 38% in the 2016-17 school year to 59% in the 2018-19 school year. This is the only MNPS school board district in which a majority of students attending public schools are attending public charter schools. Northwest Nashville (District 1) saw its own notable increase, jumping from 24% of students attending charter schools in 2016-17 to 32% in 2018-19. Charter school enrollment also grew in Districts 2 (South Nashville) and 6 (South Nashville).  There are no charter schools in Districts 8 or 9 (both Southwest Nashville). 

Every district struggles to get its high school students “College Ready”.

With only 22% of all MNPS students hitting the “College Ready” benchmark (a score of 21 or above on the ACT exam,) achievement in this category is a struggle for every school board district. Not a single district can say the majority of its high school seniors achieved “College Ready” status in 2018-19. Districts 8 (Southwest Nashville) and 9 (Southwest Nashville) saw the highest number of students reaching college readiness, at 44% and 43% respectively. In District 5 (Central & East Nashville,) measures of college readiness range widely, with 47% of students at LEAD Academy high school meeting this mark, while only 9% of its Pearl-Cohn students do the same. 

How does this data connect to the school board?

If the collected information in these district pages prove anything, it’s that each of Nashville’s nine school board districts is unique. In addition to making key decisions around subjects such as budget, curriculum, school calendar, director accountability, school openings and closings, and more, it is crucial that an MNPS board member serve as a voice for the students and families of their unique district. 

In Nashville, school board members are elected by the public; and good data empower parents, advocates, local leaders and community members to cast a confident and informed vote when that vote is required. Though school board districts cannot be fully understood through facts and figures alone, we hope that the at-a-glance information found in these data pages will be helpful to those who seek to better understand the students and school communities in their district before visiting the polls in August.

The election for school board seats in Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take place on August 6, 2020.