State leaders and school officials across Tennessee gathered this week to weigh in on a pressing issue in wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting—how can we make schools safer? “I am a father of a second grade teacher and when I heard the stories about the teachers huddled in classrooms with their kids, like [...]
Principal Ron Woodard is the epitome of ‘in your face’—but in a good way. He’s trying to change the culture of Maplewood High School and get college on his students’ minds, everyday. “I think it provides students with a focus,” said Woodard, Executive Principal of Maplewood High School in Metro Nashville Public Schools. “At the [...]
A school’s success is often measured by academic performance, test scores, and attendance rates. But what about factors like safety, drug and alcohol use, and even how students feel in the classroom? Beginning this year, students in Tennessee can have their say about school climate by taking an online survey. “The school climate project is [...]
Mariachi classes are now being offered at Wright Middle School and Glencliff High School as part of the new Music Makes Us education program, a public/private partnership among Metro Schools, Mayor Karl Dean, and music industry leaders in Nashville. “One of the aspects of Music Makes Us is the notion that nontraditional programs are being [...]
For many students new to the United States, school can be the greatest adjustment. Helping to close that culture gap is why members of the Kurdish community gathered recently at the Salahadeen Center of Nashville, a Kurdish mosque and community center, for an education seminar with representatives from Metro Nashville Public Schools. “We invited them [...]
Leann Norrod has big dreams. “My goals are to get into Watkins university and get my degree for photography, and then to work for National Geographic,” says Norrod. But the high school senior didn’t always see herself as college-bound, or even making it out of high school. “Before I just thought what does school matter? [...]
When it comes to playing football, Tennessee Athletic Director Chris Snoddy has a word of advice: take the head out of it. “I think we want to do more with the heads than we used to, the head has kind of become a big thing. Part of the influence of the NFL everyone wants to [...]
More than 200 new public school teachers in Nashville sat as students recently during a four-day training in the New Teacher Induction Program. It’s a regular event this time of year for Metro Nashville Public Schools. But this time, there are significant changes, including a new format focusing on major content areas like classroom management, [...]
Rutherford County Schools (RCS) get high marks in rankings released by the Tennessee Department of Education. RCS and Franklin Special School District are the only two in middle Tennessee on the list of those achieving “exemplary” status—meaning they met targets during the 2011-2012 school year. The rankings are the first since the state’s new accountability [...]
Here is a theory on how to motivate more girls to be interested in science and math: connect those subjects to art and creativity. That’s the goal of an all-girls program in Nashville called Art2STEM. It’s a year-round program, but this summer, 50 girls spent a week mixing art with science—painting and making pretty objects while [...]
