The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in Math. The lowest is 41% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Howard Elementary
Howard Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Gallatin, Tennessee, part of the Sumner County school district. For a family exploring elementary options in this growing Nashville-adjacent city, the school offers a picture of solid academic performance in some subjects alongside areas where a parent may want to follow up further.
The school’s enrollment of roughly six hundred students reflects a diverse composition. A majority of students are white, with Hispanic students making up about one-fifth of the student body, Black students slightly more than one-tenth, and smaller shares of Asian, multiracial, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Data on economic disadvantage, special education, and English learner status were not available in the standard fields, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals and about how the school serves students with disabilities and multilingual learners.
On state assessments, Howard Elementary shows a split across subjects. In math, the proficiency rate is solid, with a clear majority of students scoring at the proficient or advanced level. Science results are similarly strong. In English language arts, however, the proficiency rate is lower, with fewer than half of students meeting the state standard. A parent looking at reading and writing development may want to explore what interventions or supports the school offers in literacy, particularly given that elementary ELA foundations carry into later grades. The school had near-perfect participation in assessments, so the results give a reliable picture of overall performance. Social studies data is from an older year with assessment changes, making it less directly comparable. Because Howard Elementary serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and there are no advanced coursework offerings such as AP or dual credit, which are typical for high schools.
The school sits in Gallatin, a city that blends a historic town-square identity with rapid suburban and industrial growth. The downtown area, centered on the Sumner County Courthouse square, offers a walkable core with shops and restaurants. Much of the city’s expansion, however, has been in car-dependent subdivisions and commercial corridors. Major employers include Gap, Inc., Sumner Regional Medical Center, Volunteer State Community College, and Meta’s data center campus, which continues to expand. The city’s population has been rising steadily, driven by Nashville metropolitan area sprawl. Housing values in the area are above the state median, and rents are moderate relative to incomes, though buying a home requires a substantial income. The community includes Volunteer State Community College within the city, a recreational anchor at Old Hickory Lake, and several historic sites.
The district brief for Sumner County did not surface recent changes of lasting impact to parents, so the school’s context at the district level appears stable in terms of policy or boundary shifts. The comparison set that would normally position Howard Elementary relative to other districts in Sumner County was not available because the data contained only a single district in the cohort, making those comparisons impossible. A parent cannot use this data to judge the school against its neighbors.
Howard Elementary is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. No information was available on discipline rates, staffing ratios, course access, or chronic absenteeism. The school’s report card leaves several gaps that a prospective family would want to fill through a school visit or a conversation with the principal: how the school supports literacy, what the student-teacher ratio looks like in practice, how it handles behavior and attendance, and what programs or enrichment it offers beyond the core curriculum. The academic data points to a school that is performing well in math and science while showing a softer spot in reading that merits a closer look. For a family whose priority is a school with a strong math and science foundation and a diverse student body in a fast-growing exurban setting, Howard Elementary is worth serious consideration, with the caveat that the ELA results warrant investigation.
See more original research from School Decision →