The Gate School Would Provide Discussion-Based Learning to West Nashville Students

Stock photo of students working together (Photo by The Gate School)

There are more than three dozen public charter schools in Nashville, but only one serves families on the city’s west side.

Burrus Cox hopes to change that in the fall of 2027 by opening The Gate School for grades 6-8.

“There’s just not a lot of options, and I think that’s what we want to be is a high-quality option,” said Cox.

Charter schools are free public schools operated by a non-profit organization under a “charter” with a school district or the state.

The Harkness Method

Cox has spent his career in education, teaching at other Nashville charter schools, including Republic, East End Prep, and, most recently, at Valor, but he says The Gate School will offer a model that he first encountered as a private school student at Ensworth.

The Harkness Method uses discussion-based teaching, with small groups of students sitting around an oval table rather than in rows of desks. The concept is more common among elite private schools, but Cox believes the community-centered approach to learning will provide families with a needed school option beyond what traditional public schools are offering.

“It puts students at the center, and their voices are really the drivers. It allows students to question each other, to build off each other, to really have discourse,” said Cox. “It really is a high level of teaching where you have really thoughtful, targeted questions and you’re really trusting kids to drive the learning, while being a guide.”

Burrus Cox (Photo by The Gate School)

Everyone Teaches

Cox says he decided to start up a new charter school after seeing too many strong teachers leave the profession.

He says The Gate School will be specifically designed to put high-quality teachers in front of kids by seeing “everyone as a teacher,” including himself.  Cox plans to teach students daily while also serving as the school’s founding leader.

“I know great teaching works,” said Cox. “I’ve never met a student that doesn’t have what it takes, and great teaching allows students to see the excellence inside of them, and that’s what I want kids’ experiences to be at the Gate School,”

AI and High School Credits

Cox says he chose to serve middle school students because there’s a “stark falloff” in middle school, with some families leaving the district because they’re unhappy with the middle school options.

Students attending The Gate School will leave with at least 3 high school credits, and Cox says their instruction will include a focus on AI (artificial intelligence) to accelerate learning.

“As a school, we have a responsibility to partner with families to understand what they want in it, and we have a responsibility to teach kids how to use it ethically and effectively,” said Cox. “We really want to be owners of it along with families and teach kids to use it in really purposeful ways.”

The Gate School is one of seven proposed public charter schools that submitted letters of intent to apply to Metro Nashville Public Schools last year.

The district’s board of education traditionally votes on those applications in April.