Equity
All students deserve to thrive in school. We are committed to equitable solutions that address systemic barriers in education and meet the diverse needs of students in our district.
Thriving Schools
We believe that the ability to thrive exists within each of our schools. But creating thriving schools isn’t easy. The conditions do not occur by happenstance; they must be intentionally cultivated and supported, and we all have a role to play.
Explore the Thriving Schools website to learn more about the conditions necessary to build a school in which all students thrive, and read our school profiles on MNPS schools climbing to thriving.
Visit the Website
Designing the Future: How Measuring and Mapping Student Opportunities in Nashville Can Improve Outcomes for Kids
Our newest policy brief explores how measuring and mapping data about student experiences in and out of school is critical to informing policies and practices that help ensure all Nashville’s children and youth thrive. In the brief, we call for a Nashville Children and Youth Opportunity Index and recommend the school district build on its Equity Roadmap by regularly reporting on equity metrics.Download Brief
By Design: How Nashville Created and Sustains Inequities in our Schools
Our policy brief further unpacks how city structures and systems prevent low-income students and students of color from thriving. The brief outlines specific policies and decisions in our city's history - such as housing and zoning decisions - that have established, exacerbated, and continue to perpetuate inequities for students and families.Download Brief
The Limitations of Desegregation in Nashville's Public Schools
Our new, condensed version of the full documentary focuses specifically on the failings on desegregation-era policies in Nashville. This resource offers a 22-minute option for screenings where a shorter or more specific showing is desired.Watch Film
The Limitations of Desegregation in Nashville's Public Schools: Watch Guide
Our new Watch Guide accompanies the 22-minute condensed documentary by Design: The Limitations of Desegregation in Nashville's Public Schools. This resource facilitates solutions-driven conversations about the film and our collective role in designing a future that ensures all students thrive.Download Guide
Webinar: Continuing the Conversation - Inequities of the Nashville Youth Experience
Watch our webinar from December 8, 2021 featuring Dr. Maury Nation, Johari Matthews, Kasar Abdulla, and Vanessa Lazón. This conversation focuses on how our community can come together to shape how we prioritize children and youth across our diverse city, and explores how our city's systems, structures, and resources affect children and youth in the classroom and beyond.Watch Webinar
By Design: The Shaping of Nashville's Public Schools
By Design: The Shaping of Nashville's Public Schools has been produced by NPEF in collaboration with education experts, leading historians, community and state leaders, and students from defining moments in Nashville’s public-school history dating back to the 1800s.Watch Trailer
Watch Film
Learn More
By Design: Watch Guide
We created this Watch Guide to accompany our documentary By Design: The Shaping of Nashville's Public Schools. Use this resource as a starting point to lead a discussion with a group of family, friends, coworkers, or others in your community after watching the film.Download Guide
By Design: Action Guide
We created this Action Guide to accompany our documentary By Design: The Shaping of Nashville's Public Schools. Use this resource to discover how you can take action to ensure every child has what they need to thrive in school each day.Download Guide
Webinar: Exceptional Education in MNPS
Watch our webinar from January 27, 2021 titled "Exceptional Education in MNPS: How do we support our special education students to thriving?" with a panel featuring educator, family, and student voice.Watch Webinar
Webinar: Navigating COVID-19 as an English Learner in MNPS
Watch our webinar from September 23, 2020 titled Navigating COVID-19 as an English Learner in MNPS: Community Perspectives on Supporting Students and Families with a panel of those working closest with Nashville's EL students and families.Watch Webinar
Webinar: Inequities of the Nashville Youth Experience
Watch our webinar from June 30, 2020 titled A City Where All Youth Thrive: A Conversation about Dismantling the Inequities of the Nashville Youth Experience led by Dr. Maury Nation from Vanderbilt University.Watch Webinar
Thriving Schools Advocacy Guide
This resource provides guidance on how we can collectively work together to create schools where all kids thrive. The guide includes a checklist for each of NPEF's Thriving Schools Framework conditions as well as a list of things you can do today to create a thriving school.Download Guide
SAMPLE: Op-Ed
Use this sample op-ed to write your own piece advocating for increasing teacher pay or another important public education issue and send it to your local newspaper or other news source to be published.Download Template
SAMPLE: Letter to a Metro Council Member
Use this sample letter to write your own letter to a member of the Metro Council advocating for increasing teacher pay or another important public education issue.Download Template
A Framework for Thriving Schools
Our Thriving Schools Framework explores the conditions necessary to create thriving schools and explains how the presence of these conditions leads to increased student performance and agency.Download Report
NPEF Inequities Brief
This brief includes our recommendations for identifying and dismantling the inequities baked into our schools and communities that prevent too many of our students from thriving.Download Report
Infographic: Who Makes Decisions About Our Schools?
This infographic provides information on the roles played by local and state government and other stakeholders related to public education in Nashville.Download Infographic
