Half of Nashville’s public charter schools outperform every comparable district school on state testing

Exterior of Nashville Classical (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Crystal Evans says her son’s initial experience with Metro-Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) wasn’t ideal.

Evans enrolled him in the family’s zoned elementary school, but quickly decided to make a change.

“We had such a bad experience with that school that we just decided that that was it and we had to try something else,” said Evans.

Evans switched her son to Nashville Classical in the first-grade and the experience was so positive, she enrolled her daughter in the school the following year.

She says the East Nashville based public charter school stresses high academic standards and provides an education model where students, including those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, can overcome obstacles to focus on learning.

“Totally impressed, they've done a great job just putting them in the space where they can learn,” said Evans. “They don't need any distractions and that's why they get way more education in that short period of time than they do in (traditional) public schools because they cut out distractions. They cut out 90 percent of all the distractions.”

That approach is making an impact on state testing.

A Tennessee Firefly analysis of Tennessee Department of Education Report Card data released this week found middle school students at Nashville Classical outperformed every district run middle school in the Stratford Cluster in every subject but social studies.  That includes proficiency rates 10 points higher in English language arts and 18 points higher in math.

Nashville Classical’s success is part of a larger trend of public charter school students in Davidson County producing proficiency rates higher than their traditional and magnet school peers. Charter schools are free public schools operated by an independent contract or “charter” with an authorizing agency.

Firefly staff compared each MNPS public charter school’s performance on the Report Card to traditional and magnet schools serving the same age students in the same school cluster. Half of those charters outperformed every comparable district run school in a majority of subjects.

Exterior of Valor College Prep (Photo by Valor College Prep)

The results are especially noticeable in South Davidson County’s Overton School Cluster. All three public charter schools in the zone outperformed every traditional public school in every subject, sometimes by large percentages.

Valor Flagship Academy posted proficiency rates 20 points higher in English language arts, 40 points higher in math and science, and more than 50 points higher in social studies than the comparable district run high school.  Valor’s two middle schools also posted proficiency rates in every subject 20 points higher or more than every district run middle school in the cluster.

Public charter school students found similar success in the adjacent Glencliff School Cluster. All three public charter middle schools there outperformed every MNPS run middle school in the cluster in every subject on state testing.

Back in East Nashville, Evans says the attention to academic success her children found at a public charter school will produce benefits beyond test scores.

She says both of her children have the grades to apply for highly competitive high schools when they leave Nashville Classical.

“I do believe that Nashville Classical has given them all the tools to succeed in any school they go to,” said Evans. “For my daughter, we're looking at Harpeth Hall and she will have the grades to get the scholarship to go to Harper Hall. My son has the grades and every testing score that was necessary to even apply for Hume-Fogg, apply for MLK, and apply for Early College (High School).”