The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Math. The lowest is 11% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Ida B. Wells Elementary
Ida B. Wells Elementary is a regular public school in Nashville’s Davidon County district, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a small elementary school, and the student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and a very small number of white students. The school’s ZIP code, in the 37207 area of Nashville, shows home values that are somewhat above the statewide median, with rents that have been roughly flat. The broader Nashville area is a fast-growing major state capital and economic hub centered on healthcare, music, and corporate headquarters, but as a consolidated city-county with a large land area, much of it is car-dependent and not uniformly walkable.
On state assessments, the school’s performance is below what many families would hope for. In math, roughly a third of students scored proficient or above. In English language arts, just under a fifth of students reached that same benchmark. Science results were similar to the ELA figure. The comparison with other elementary schools across Davidson County puts the school’s overall proficiency level above the midpoint among the handful of districts in the county, meaning that while outcomes are low in absolute terms, they are not at the very bottom when measured against its direct neighbors in the county. A parent looking at these numbers will want to understand what academic support the school offers and what the path to grade-level proficiency looks like for students who arrive behind.
Few other published indicators are available to round out the picture. The data does not include the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, the rate of students receiving special education services, or the count of English learners, so it is not possible to say what level of concentrated poverty or specialized need the school serves. Chronic absenteeism figures and disciplinary data were also absent from the information we reviewed. For a family weighing this school, these are meaningful gaps that make it harder to gauge the overall learning environment. The district brief turned up no recent changes or initiatives publicly reported for Davidson County that would have lasting impact on parents, so there is no district-level context to add there.
Ida B. Wells is a small neighborhood elementary in a large, growing city. It serves the earliest grades only, so there is no high school graduation rate or secondary pathway data to consider. The school’s academic results, while above the local median within Davidson County, reflect a setting where a majority of students are not yet reaching state proficiency standards in reading or math. Families considering this school will want to visit, speak with staff about how individual student growth is measured, and ask about the specific interventions and enrichment available, especially in literacy and math, since those are the areas where the assessment data shows the most room for improvement.
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