Education Committee Members Learn About Charter Schools


educationcommitteenovemberThe Chamber's Education Committee recently reconvened for their second meeting of the 2015-2016 school year. Laura Moore, Chamber VP of policy, shared information from the education portion of the 2015 Nashville Region's Vital Signs Report, released in October. Highlights included:





  • Residents with a high school education or less were three times more likely to have trouble affording basic needs over the last year.
  • Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents in the joint Nashville-Clarksville region felt they had adequate education and training to advance their career.
  • Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said having information about their options would make them more likely to pursue additional education.
  • In Davidson County, 52.5 percent of students enroll in postsecondary education after graduating from high school. Statewide, that number is 57.2 percent.




Alan Coverstone, MNPS executive officer of charter schools, shared the authorization process for charter schools, which are public schools that operate under a contract, or charter, with the school board to operate within Nashville's school district. Charter schools in Nashville are subject to annual review by the school board, and are required to provide detailed academic performance records demonstrating improvement on student test scores, among other metrics. They also must provide their financial performance information and the demographics of their student population. In Nashville, charter school applications have an average denial rate of 64 percent.





Committee members are looking forward to the presentation of the Chamber's 2015 Education Report Card on Tuesday, Dec. 15. This 23rd annual report will provide an overview of the progress and performance of MNPS, including recommendations for improvement. At our next committee meeting, we will discuss how to follow up on the recommendations from the 2014 Education Report Card.





 

Connect With the Chamber