Best High Schools in Zip Code 37216

The two public high schools in zip code 37216 — Stratford STEM Magnet School (grades 6–12) and Maplewood High School (grades 9–12) — serve a community in Nashville where both schools face severe academic challenges, ranking in the bottom quarter of Tennessee high schools. Overall, Stratford is the stronger of the two, but both fall far below Metro Nashville Public Schools and state averages on nearly every measure.

Stratford is the clear academic leader within the zip code. Its graduation rate is 77% versus Maplewood’s 71%, its dropout rate is 21.9% versus Maplewood’s 26.9%, and its chronic absenteeism is 50.1% compared to Maplewood’s 57.7%. Stratford also outperforms Maplewood in 6 of 7 shared high-school subjects, with the biggest gaps in English II (35.8% vs. 20.5%) and Biology I (29.3% vs. 14.5%). Maplewood’s only bright spot is 12th-grade Integrated Math III, where 35% of students are proficient — well above the district’s 19.3% and state’s 18.5%. Still, both schools are far behind the state in most subjects, often by 15–25 percentage points. Stratford’s middle-school results are especially concerning: only 5.7% of its 7th graders are proficient in math, and science proficiency is below 21%. Despite its STEM magnet label, the early pipeline is not producing strong results.

Chronic absenteeism is a crisis at both schools, with roughly half to more than half of students missing enough school to be considered chronically absent, versus an 18.3% state average. Dropout rates are similarly alarming — Maplewood’s is about four times the state average. Per-student spending is substantial ($19,832 at Stratford, $18,870 at Maplewood), but outcomes remain weak. Ranking trends show Stratford improved to the 29th percentile in 2024–2025 before slipping back to 18th, while Maplewood has risen steadily from the 6th to 16th percentile. Parents considering these schools should expect a challenging environment, with Stratford being the stronger choice academically, but neither school currently approaches district or state benchmarks.