Metro Nashville Board of Education Votes to Close Public Charter School That’s Outperforming Most District-Run Schools in Its Area

Students outside KA @ The Crossings (Photo by Knowledge Academy)

Members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education voted unanimously against renewing Knowledge Academy (KA) at The Crossings' charter for another 10 years on Tuesday night.

The public charter school currently serves students in grades 5-12 in the Antioch community of Davidson County, but district leaders say it hasn’t met its own student growth and performance goals. Charter schools are free public schools operated by a non-profit organization under a “charter” with a school district or the state.

MNPS Executive Director of Charter Schools Shereka Roby-Grant told board members that the school’s math proficiency has never exceeded 15 percent during its charter term, and English Language Arts proficiency has never exceeded 15 percent.

KA @ The Crossings’ current enrollment of 343 students is also well below its capacity of 1,112, and last year, 39 percent of those students were chronically absent.

“If they are not improving learning for all students. If they are not closing the achievement gap between high and low students, that’s what the state law requires of them, and they are not meeting that,” said Board Member Abagail Tylor. “It’s not that they were great for a little while and they kind of fell off, or they had a little trouble and they figured it out.”

Comparison to District-Run Schools

Tanaka Vercher speaking at the board meeting (Screenshot)

State data tells a more complex story, as district-run schools in the Cane Ridge Cluster, where KA @ The Crossings is located, are also facing achievement challenges. According to the most recently available testing data on the State’s School Report Card, KA @ The Crossings’ 14.4 percent overall proficiency is five points higher than Cane Ridge High School and between the two district-run middle schools, Antioch Middle School (11.5 percent) and Thurgood Marshall Middle School (16.9 percent).

30 percent of KA @ The Crossings’ students are economically disadvantaged, and 32 percent are English language learners. State data shows the school outperforming most district-run schools in the cluster with these demographics.  Only Thurgood Marshall Middle School had a higher overall achievement rate for economically disadvantaged and Hispanic students.

Before the vote, Knowledge Academy Board Member Tanaka Vercher cited the school’s work with these students as a reason to renew the charter.

“We’re the last option for many parents to keep their children in school, for a community that’s been chronically under-resourced, underserved, and undervalued,” said Vercher. “We ask that you vote with everything in consideration, as it relates to our positive trajectory in mind.”

Tough Decision for Some

Multiple board members acknowledged the tough decision to close a school and the disruption it would cause for families.

That included Board Member Erin O’Hara Block, who was the sole dissenting vote the last time the board opted against renewing a charter agreement

Block said the disruption to families played a key role in that decision two years ago, but she couldn’t put aside her concerns about KA @ The Crossings’ performance.

“That was a very difficult choice to make, but part of the reason that I felt that way was for this exact reason, it is a huge disruption to families’ lives,” said Block. “But for me in this particular instance, it’s gotta be a no.”

History of Growth and Consolidation

Knowledge Academy opened its first middle school in Nashville in 2012, followed by a high school in 2015, and the KA @ The Crossings middle school in 2016. All three schools operated on the same campus.

MNPS board members voted against renewing the charter operator’s initial middle school in 2022 and then declined to consider a proposal to consolidate all three schools under KA @ The Crossing’s charter.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission then decided in favor of the consolidation plan two months later, and the school has been serving grades 5-12 ever since.

Knowledge Academy will have the option of appealing this latest decision to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission next year. If that appeal doesn’t occur or is unsuccessful, MNPS leaders say existing zoned schools have capacity for KA @ The Crossings’ students.

Approval for KIPP

The board took a different path with the other public charter school agreement up for renewal.

Members voted unanimously to approve KIPP Academy Nashville Middle School for another ten-year charter term. It’s one of ten public charter schools KIPP runs in Nashville. According to state testing data, it outperformed all but one middle school in its cluster in every subject.

A study from Stanford University found that, overall, charter schools in Tennessee have outperformed comparable district-run schools, gaining the equivalent of an additional 34 days in reading and 39 days in math.