When those closest to students collaboratively use data, students excel. In the City of Nashville, a partnership between Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and the city-funded afterschool program for middle school youth, the Nashville After Zone Alliance (NAZA), has significantly improved students’ reading ability in just three months.
This is exactly the type of partnership and focus students need, especially if they are struggling or falling behind. Too often, education happens in siloes—programs and funding streams are separate, schools and afterschool programs are islands, and no one speaks the same language. But students don’t come in pieces. We will not help every student excel until all the adults directly with students have the information they need and collaboratively use it to support student learning.
