As you probably already know, Nashville, Tenn., is home to this year’s National Charter Schools Conference. There was a clear draw for us to select this destination city—the music, the food, the culture—but the promise of Nashville, and Tennessee as a whole, for the charter movement was perhaps most appealing. Music City is not only hosting NCSC16 this year, but it is home to some of the top schools closing the achievement gap. When the Education Equality Index (EEI) report came out last week with its rankings of which states and cities are closing the achievement gap between students from low-income families and their more advantaged peers, the national overall message is clear: the achievement gap is growing and there is more that we need to do to shrink the gap so that every student receives a great education. That being said, there are a number of schools that are making great strides to narrow the achievement divide. Each city highlighted in the EEI recognizes up to 10 schools for closing the achievement gap, and in Nashville, six of those are charter schools:
KIPP Academy Nashville
LEAD Prep Southeast
Liberty Collegiate Academy
New Vision Academy
Nashville Prep
Stem Prep Academy
In an interview with Chalkbeat Tennessee, Ravi Gupta, CEO of RePublic Schools, which runs two of the aforementioned achievement gap-closing charter schools, acknowledged the good news for charter schools. He said, “charters, percentage-wise, are a very small group of schools in Nashville, yet they make up six out of 10 schools on that list. I think that’s pretty remarkable.” We agree with Mr. Gupta; it is a remarkable feat. There are many things that we can learn from these charter schools in terms of best practices for closing the achievement gap and building comprehensive strategies to improve outcomes for every student. Several of these charter school leaders, including Mr. Gupta, will be presenting on these best practices and innovative curriculum ideas, such as RePublic’s “What Happens When You Teach 1000 Kids to Code?” at the National Charter Schools Conference. These are just a small part of the more than 120 sessions that will be offered at NCSC this year. High-performing schools from all over the country will be sharing content at this year’s conference, helping to create “big ideas for a brighter future.” The ability to meet with high-achieving school leaders, hear from inspiring keynote speakers, and the countless hours of networking opportunities available for participants only makes the appeal of Nashville grow. The National Charter Schools Conference is quickly shaping up to be a must attend event for all charter school professionals.
