About
What is the Thriving Schools Framework?
At the Nashville Public Education Foundation, we believe the conversation about school success needs to be broadened - that academic achievement and growth, though critically important, do not by themselves represent what we all want for our students. We also want our students to be inspired and motivated, to be socially and civically engaged, and to be happy and confident learners.
By examining the conditions that exist - or don't - in our schools, we can pursue intentional actions around the policies, resources, and expectations that allow each child to grow, learn, and develop to their full potential.
Grounded in research on positive youth development and school quality, the Thriving Schools framework identifies six conditions that must be intentionally cultivated in order for students to grow, learn, and thrive. These conditions are interconnected — no single one is sufficient on its own, but together they create the environment in which both students and educators can flourish.
What is the Thriving Schools Dashboard?
The Nashville Public Education Foundation's Thriving Schools Dashboard was built on the belief that every student deserves to thrive and we must understand and invest in the conditions that help them do so. The dashboard brings together data across four domains — student enrollment and attendance, academic achievement, student experience, and teacher experience. This data speaks to many of the conditions within the Thriving Schools Framework, offering a fuller picture of what it takes to create an environment where all students thrive.
This dashboard is a resource for a broad audience: school leaders looking to understand their school's strengths and areas for growth in one consolidated view, families researching schools for their child — whether choosing where to enroll or staying connected to how their current school is doing, community members who want to understand how schools are doing across a range of measures, and state policy leaders working to understand what conditions make student success possible.
Where Does this Data Come From?
The dashboard shares data for all schools in Metro Nashville Public Schools, including district-authorized charter schools, as well as charter schools in Davidson County authorized by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
The data included in the dashboard is drawn from publicly available state and district sources, including the following:
Tennessee State Report Card data: The Tennessee State Report Card includes annual student data on student enrollment, absenteeism, achievement, growth, graduation and postsecondary outcomes, and teacher retention. Learn more about the Tennessee State Report Card
Panorama Student and Teacher Experience Surveys: The Panorama student and teacher experience surveys are administered annually by MNPS to collect student and teacher perspectives on school climate, well-being, relationships, safety, and other factors that shape the learning environment. The survey is conducted through the Panorama Education platform and is confidential and voluntary, with response rates varying by school. Results in this PDF reflect the most recent available responses from students and teachers at this school. The percentages reported are averages of favorable responses for each topic area, weighted by the number of questions in that area. Learn more about the Panorama School Experience Survey
TN2030 Data on statewide goals from Tennessee SCORE's TN2030 Initiative: TN2030 is a statewide initiative, compiled and powered by SCORE (the State Collaborative on Reforming Education), that sets shared, data-driven goals for student success across Tennessee. The initiative focuses on four key milestones — third-grade reading, seventh-grade math, postsecondary enrollment, and postsecondary completion — with the ultimate aim of ensuring more Tennessee students earn degrees and credentials that lead to economic independence. Where relevant, this dashboard includes TN2030 benchmarks so Nashville families and school leaders can see how local schools connect to statewide progress. Learn more about TN2030
*The Dashboard is updated annually as new data becomes available.
Because the framework draws on conditions that are not fully captured by any single data source, this dashboard includes metrics that can serve as initial indicators of whether these conditions are present in a school — a starting point for deeper conversation, not a comprehensive measure of any one condition. Each condition is explored in greater detail in the one-pagers linked throughout this dashboard.
How to Use the Dashboard
Come back soon for How-To videos and guides for how to use the dashboard.