Best High Schools in Zip Code 37214

ZIP code 37214 in Nashville, Tennessee, is home to two high schools serving grades 9 through 12, both within the Metro Nashville Public Schools district, a district ranked in the bottom 11 percent of Tennessee districts. The two schools — McGavock High School and The Academy at Opry Mills — could hardly be more different in size, spending, and the availability of public outcome data.

McGavock is the area's comprehensive high school with 1,844 students and is the only school in the ZIP code with recent test scores. It ranks in the 17th percentile statewide with a 79.9% graduation rate — more than 10 points below the state average of 90.5% — and a 17.2% dropout rate that is 2.5 times the state rate. Chronic absenteeism affects 39.8% of its students. Math proficiency is critically low: just 10.0% of students are proficient in Integrated Math I and 10.4% in Integrated Math II. The Academy at Opry Mills, by contrast, enrolls only 32 students but spends $43,074 per student — roughly 2.6 times McGavock's $16,789. Despite that extraordinary investment, the Academy has no reported test scores, no current graduation rate, and a 70.6% chronic absenteeism rate, nearly four times the state average.

For parents, these two schools present very different trade-offs. The Academy at Opry Mills posted a strong 91.5% graduation rate and a 2.1% dropout rate in 2023–2024, but the extreme per-student spending and 70.6% absenteeism raise serious questions about cost-effectiveness. McGavock is improving — its state percentile climbed from 10th to 17th over three years, and scores rose in every subject year-over-year — yet it remains below district and state averages in nearly every category. Missing data on free/reduced lunch eligibility and student-teacher ratios for both schools, plus the Academy's lack of academic results, limit any full comparison. Ultimately, families in 37214 face two very different schools that share a common struggle: far too many students are chronically absent, and far too few are meeting state academic benchmarks.