Schools That Work

Nashville Big Picture High School

Public, Urban
Grades 9-12
Nashville, TN

Nashville Big Picture High School — a public, urban school in Nashville, Tennessee — is one of 65 U.S. schools in the Big Picture Network. Big Picture’s philosophy puts students at the center of their own learning through personalized learning projects, advisory, and internships two days a week. The school’s commitment to helping students explore their passions in a real-world context shows in their high engagement — a 95 percent attendance rate and a 98 percent graduation rate. See how it works in this one-minute video.

  • Achieved a 90% graduation rate in 2014 and 98% in 2015.
  • Outperformed the district and the state on the TCAP English I standardized test every year since 2013.
  • Network wide, Big Picture Learning students are more likely to persist in college and earn degrees than students from equivalent backgrounds nationally.
  • Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

    Advisory: Building Relationships for Student Success

    Advisory at Nashville Big Picture High School creates a culture of support, appreciation, and safety for students' academic and social-emotional growth.
  • Interest-Based Learning

    Learning Through Internships: Connecting Students’ Passions to the Real World

    Explore five ways to adapt internships (from field trips to shadow days), or follow nine steps to make Nashville Big Picture High School's internship program your own.
  • Student Voice

    Personalized Learning: Enabling Student Voice and Choice Through Projects

    Adapt these six tips to bring personalized learning projects into your classroom and build student engagement.
  • Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

    Advisory: 22 Ways to Build Relationships for Educational Success

    Nashville Big Picture High School shares many ways to build intentional relationships with students -- strategies that can work at schools of any size.
    Emelina Minero
  • Interest-Based Learning

    Real-World Learning With Internships

    See how a training program in high school connects students’ passions to their classroom learning.
  • Student Engagement

    4 Student Engagement Tips (From a Student)

    Harley Center shares how relationships, humor, choice, and displaying his work engaged him, plus his three-minute video highlighting student work and personalized learning.
  • Student Voice

    Driving Engagement Through Voice and Choice

    Ideas on how to bring personalized learning into your classroom.

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