2014 EDUCATION REPORT CARD Submitted by the Chamber Education Report Card Committee Co-Chairs Jackson Miller and Brian Shaw Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools | 2013- 2014 School Year Presenting Sponsor Pivotal Partners Education Advocates Supporting Sponsor Technology Partner Supported by 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Submitted by the Chamber Education Report Card Committee Co-Chairs Jackson Miller and Brian Shaw NARRATIVE Executive Summary 6 Recommendations 8 School System Performance 9 Committee Commendations Committee Concerns Educational Leadership 22 NUMBERS Appendix A – Nashville Public Opinion on Education May 2014 28 Appendix B – MNPS Funding 32 Appendix C – MNPS Demographic and Achievement Data 34 Appendix D – Performance of Middle Tennessee and Urban System Districts 49 NOTES Appendix E – Academic Performance Framework Schools 50 Appendix F – Status of Chamber Education Report Card Committee Recommendations from 2013 Report 52 Appendix G – Experts Interviewed 55 Appendix H – Glossary 58 Acknowledgements 63 3 2014 COMMITTEE ROSTER Co-Chair Jackson Miller Jarod DeLozier Freddie O’Connell CEO, L2M, LLC Co-founder and owner, Software developer, Rustici Software East Literature Cluster and Ugly Mugs Coffee & Tea magnet school parent Stratford Cluster parent Anita H. Ryan (third year) (second year) Account executive, HST Interior Elements Co-Chair Brian R. Shaw, Jr. Rob Elliott Hillwood Cluster and magnet Owner/developer, Workout Anytime Chief operating and financial officer, school parent (third year) Stansell Electric Company Whites Creek High School alumnus (second year) Christina Smith First vice president, wealth Daryl Buck Kate Read Ezell management advisor/retirement General manager, Murray Guard, Inc. Principal, Ezell Education Consulting benefits consultant, Smith & Hillwood Cluster parent (second year) Associates - Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. Dawn Cole James Hartman Public affairs manager, Waste Retired MNPS teacher Connie Williams Management, Inc. of TN Corinne L. Cohn High School alumnus President and CEO, PENCIL Foundation (third year) Derrick Hines Whitney Weeks (ex officio) Tiffany Coursey Curriculum development and VP, policy, Nashville Area Chamber Human resources, Barge Waggoner instructional systems design, of Commerce Sumner & Cannon, Inc. Tennessee College of Applied Hillsboro Cluster and magnet Technology Nashville school parent Scott Craddock Cane Ridge Cluster parent Corporate ethics and compliance (third year) Dr. Jewell Winn officer, CCA Executive director for international Hillsboro Cluster and magnet Jennifer Johnston programs and chief diversity officer, school parent Executive director, Vanderbilt Center Tennessee State University (second year) for Nashville Studies Maplewood High School alumna Laura Delgado Sara Longhini Allyson Young Family engagement manager, Executive director, Fannie Battle CEO, YMG Coaching and Conexión Américas Day Home for Children Consulting (second year) (third year) Hillwood and Hillsboro Clusters parent (third year) Katherine McElroy Partner, c3/consulting 4 Isaac Litton Middle Prep ambassadors host guided tours for community visitors and prospective families. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since 1992, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has glish, academic growth, reduction of achievement gap between organized a diverse and committed group of Nashvillians to demographic groups, and school culture. It is important to assess the progress of Metro Schools. The 21 members of the note that the APF categorizes the performance of all public Education Report Card Committee began their work in July schools in the county regardless of school type, reflecting the 2014 and conducted interviews with city and school system success of both district-run schools and charter schools. leaders, community stakeholders, principals, teachers and stu- Just how much MNPS improved in one year using the APF is dents. The committee also collected data and visited schools open to interpretation, due to the serious misalignment be- before developing findings and recommendations. This report tween Tennessee’s use of Common Core State Standards over represents our consensus view of the 2013-2014 school year. the past three years and the outdated standardized tests that are supposed to measure student mastery. In response to this K-12 public education has no shortage of measurements. misalignment, MNPS applied a statistical adjustment based In fact, to the average parent, educator and taxpayer, the on statewide trends when it calculated the APF scores for the amount of data can be overwhelming and often contradictory. 2013-2014 school year. Over the past 22 years, this Education Report Card has con- sidered overall achievement, progress within a year, gradu- Without the statistical adjustment, there were 30 “excelling” ation rates, attendance, discipline incidences, ACT scores, or “achieving” schools in 2014, representing a net increase of and shifts in public opinion. While all these measures are six schools over the previous year. With the statistical adjust- important and continue to be included in our report, at the ment, the number of excelling and achieving schools increased end of the day, families choose schools — not statistics — to 34. The number of “target” schools, the lowest-performing and Nashvillians want to know whether Metropolitan Nash- category on the APF, dropped from 29 to 25 using the unad- ville Public Schools (MNPS) is making progress toward the justed framework. With the statistical adjustment, the number goal of all their schools becoming great. of target schools dropped dramatically to 13. We are pleased to report that MNPS made progress during While we commend MNPS for making progress in increasing the 2013-2014 school year. The district increased the num- the number of effective schools in the city, there remain ber of effective schools and reduced the number of students areas of real concern. The percentage of students making struggling in its lowest-performing schools. This conclusion at least a 21 on the ACT ticked up to 29 percent, but that is based on the district’s Academic Performance Framework improvement is glacial given the district’s goal of at least (APF): a composite of student proficiency in math and En- 50 percent of its graduates attaining that college- and ca- 6 reer-ready benchmark. In addition, eighth-grade math and at Vanderbilt. There is now an expectation that assistant English proficiency has been flat the past three years and principals will progress to become future school leaders, elementary students missed their state accountability goals, and monthly professional development is tailored to their prompting yet another reassignment of roles within the dis- needs. Executive principals are being coached and supported trict central office. Perhaps most embarrassing for the city, by “lead principals,” exemplary school leaders who spend the Tennessee Department of Education announced in August time outside their building working with a network of other that the number of MNPS schools in the bottom 5 percent schools. This support is important as MNPS continues to roll statewide had more than doubled—in part, because Memphis out more autonomy over school budgeting, ultimately to all had moved more aggressively to address many of their failing its school leaders by 2016. schools. As for the district’s 10,000 employees, leadership at the top Strong and determined leadership at every level of Metro sets the tone for the organization, and there are significant Schools is essential to the district making the kind of prog- challenges for the board of education. The school board has ress our city expects and our students deserve. Encouraging- struggled to find a way to air different viewpoints without un- ly, five years after the education report card committee last dermining its leader. As current Director of Schools Dr. Jesse examined “leadership,” there is now a clearer pathway for Register nears the end of his contract on June 30, 2015, the leadership in Metro Schools. The Teacher Leadership Insti- board must create a search process and timeline that draws tute, a program that seeks to develop and retain high-per- the interest of the best possible candidates from around the forming, early-career MNPS educators, is now in its fourth country. In order to do that, the board will need to come to cohort. There is now a myriad of leadership opportunities for consensus around the type of candidate they are looking for, teachers, from team leader to department chair. However, as well as develop a working understanding of how the school the inconsistent approach toward compensating teachers for board should function in its policy governance role. That test these roles sends a mixed message about leadership’s place of leadership is likely to determine whether the 2014 prog- as a strategic driver for the district. ress can be sustained or even accelerated in the coming year, or whether the district devolves into dysfunction. In addition to a new, more rigorous selection process to de- termine school leaders, MNPS has developed a new training program for aspiring administrators that complements the longstanding Principal Leadership Academy of Nashville 7 RECOMMENDATIONS To their great credit, each year the school board and administration carefully consider the Report Card’s findings and recom- mendations. Metro Nashville Public Schools’ responses to last year’s Report Card recommendations can be found in Appendix F. In looking back at the 2013-2014 school