Statements

Mission

STEM Prep's mission is to deliver a rigorous, inquiry-based education with a strategic focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By cultivating a community of learning and academic excellence, STEM Prep will bolster the number of underrepresented students who graduate from the most competitive universities in the country and lead the discoveries and innovations of the future. We achieve our mission through a progressive, rigorous, and research-based academic program coupled with robust supports for students' holistic development and post-secondary transition. STEM Prep aims to cultivate a talent pipeline capable of transforming the communities and industries in which we live and work in this state. Graduates of STEM Prep will become persistent and steadfast problem-solvers, active leaders in the community, and highly engaged and empathetic citizens of the world. STEM Prep has intentionally designed its structure and operations around evidence-based practices proven to accelerate academic achievement, educational attainment, and career readiness. The essential design features include: Academic press supported by and facilitated through a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum with an integrated focus on STEM learning and authentic application thereof.Systematic instruction to ensure all students master basic skills in literacy and mathematics.Inquiry-driven and project-based learning to advance students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Frequent and sustained progress monitoring through formative assessments that identifies small increments of growth or deficits.Ongoing and relentless support, care, and love of students within a structured and safe small high school environment and supported by a strong school culture of community and academic excellence. Taken together these design features create a school model robust in its evidence-based and inquiry-driven instructional program, holistic in its deliberate attention to the whole student and family, and comprehensive in its early intervention and college-ready normative and functional strategies.

Impact

¨Excelling School by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools STEM Prep accounts for 100% of the 'Excelling' seats in our cluster according to the district's Academic Performance Framework¨Advocate of the Year by Tennessee Charter School Association ¨Doubled our Grade 5 Students' Mathematics Proficiency for the 4th Consecutive Year¨Opened STEM Prep High in August 2015 ¨Opened Nashville Newcomer Academy in Partnership with MNPS starting in 2016-2017 school year.STEM Prep's Newcomer Academy is a first-of-its-kind partnership between a charter school and school district to serve the youngest New Americans with the most urgent needs.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Education  - Charter Schools
Secondary Category:	Science & Technology  -
Tertiary Category:	Public & Societal Benefit  -

Areas Served

STEM Preparatory Academy serves nearly half of the highest-poverty neighborhoods in Nashville.

TN - Davidson