The top reported proficiency rate is 18% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Robert Churchwell Elementary
Robert Churchwell Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in a section of Nashville. It is a regular public school within the Davidson County school district, which operates as Metro Nashville Public Schools. The school’s large urban setting means it draws from a densely populated area of the city, where the mix of commercial corridors, university campuses, and residential streets shapes daily life for families.
The student body is enrolled at a size typical for an elementary school in a city district. A substantial majority of the students are Black. Smaller shares of the enrollment identify as two or more races, Hispanic, White, Asian, or American Indian or Alaska Native. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are classified as English learners was not available in the source material, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the availability of supports in those areas.
Academic achievement on Tennessee’s state assessments, the TNReady, shows that most students tested in grades three through five are not yet scoring at the proficient or above level. Proficient rates were reported in several subjects. In English language arts, close to a fifth of students scored proficient or above. In math, the rate was roughly half of that. In science, it was lower still. A social studies score is listed from an older assessment cycle, with a figure in a similar range, though the test and cut scores changed since then, making that result not directly comparable to current ones. Participation rates on the math, English language arts, and science tests were high. Overall, when the proficiency rates for all tested subjects and grades are averaged together, the school’s composite index sits above the midpoint among the small number of districts within Davidson County for which such data was available. Still, the proficiency numbers themselves are low, and a parent should consider those results carefully and discuss with the school how it works to raise student performance.
Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That is a function of the grade band, not an indication of any issue.
The school environment data, including information on discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance, was not present in the provided records. The same is true for data on whether the school receives Title I funding. A parent wanting a fuller picture of the school’s climate and resources would need to seek that from the school or district.
The community context for Robert Churchwell Elementary is Nashville itself. Nashville is a fast-growing state capital and a major economic center, anchored by the music industry, a large healthcare sector anchored by Hospital Corporation of America, a significant presence in insurance, finance, publishing, automotive, and technology, as well as multiple universities including Vanderbilt, Tennessee State, and Belmont. The city has a defined downtown with state government buildings and entertainment venues, but its overall development pattern is spread out across a large land area, contributing to significant car dependency. Housing in the school’s zip code is priced moderately above the statewide benchmark and sits at a level that, with current mortgage rates, results in an estimated monthly payment that is higher than the typical rent in the area. The district brief turned up no publicly reported recent district-level changes with lasting parent impact, such as boundary redrawing or program closures, to describe.
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