Score an Excellent Education in Rutherford County

Top-rated schools put this Middle Tennessee region at the head of the class.

By Teree Caruthers on July 12, 2023

As Rutherford County’s knowledge economy continues to grow, a commitment to STEM and STEAM education keeps the pipeline of highly skilled talent flowing to the region’s workforce.

Rutherford County Schools and Murfreesboro City Schools both boast schools that have been awarded a Tennessee STEM School Designation, and the systems play a central role in developing a workforce capable of competing in an increasingly global economy.

Jeff Adkins

Full STEAM Ahead in Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro City Schools has eight Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN)-designated STEM Schools, with the goal of 100% of its schools receiving that designation within five years. The district is a pre-K through sixth-grade system comprising 13 schools.

“We utilize a STEAM planning process to integrate learning throughout the school day” says Lea Bartch, coordinator of science and social studies for Murfreesboro City Schools. “STEAM units highlight STEM careers and incorporate 21st-century skills, such as problem-solving and thinking interdependently.”

At Overall Creek Elementary, for example, second graders are using 3D printers to design and print prosthetics for animals, and third graders use virtual reality headsets to design homes to withstand natural disasters around the world.

One of the system’s newest schools, Salem Elementary, was designed with the idea that STEAM would play a central role in the curriculum, says Kimberly Kahle, STEM lead teacher at Salem Elementary.

“It was a goal from the very beginning that the school would pursue the STEAM designation with the state. There is consistent planning and learning that is happening within the school, and we have quarterly STEAM units with a culminating engineering project at the end of each quarter,” Kahle says.

These are skills that Bartch says help prepare students for local, in-demand careers.

“When we have talked with industry partners, they mention having soft skills and being well-rounded. Those two things are enhanced by life experiences and exposures,” she says. “Real-world connections, failing engineering designs, group project designs, collaborating and coming to a consensus and exploring different careers are catalysts.”

Jeff Adkins

STEM a Vital Part to Education in Rutherford County

Rutherford County Schools uses experiences such as coding and robotics competitions to introduce students to STEM-related career pathways as early as elementary school.

“One of the best things about the STEM program in Rutherford County’s elementary schools is that those kids are getting experiences that they may not ever have otherwise,” says Vickie Stem, elementary science and social studies specialist for Rutherford County Schools. “We’re instilling in those kids the belief that they can go forward and have a STEM career, whereas I don’t think that all of them would’ve felt that way without all of this exposure to these experiences.”

At Smyrna Elementary School, for example, STEM is incorporated into language arts lessons to increase literacy. Teachers use project-based learning to help students build their vocabularies.

In the middle school grades – which are arguably the heart of the school district’s STEM initiatives – students are learning not only robotics, coding and graphic design, but they are also learning skills associated with environmental and civil engineering.

“Our middle school program is a great bridge between elementary school and the initiatives that are happening there and high school where students are able to expand on their interests and the skills they’ve learned through career and technical education courses,” says Stephanie Finley, science and STEM specialist for Rutherford County Schools.

“The goal in high school is to go beyond exposure to help kids hone in on what their interests are as they start to think about postsecondary opportunities,” says Chatoria Franklin, 9-12 science specialist for Rutherford County Schools. “We focus on making sure that every student leaves high school a ready grad. That includes some industry certifications and exposure to the careers and opportunities available to them.”

Teachers Earn Awards

Ask Kim Inglis, fifth-grade teacher at Black Fox Elementary, about her proudest moment as an educator, and she doesn’t cite awards or recognition. Instead, she says her proudest moments are the little successes her students experience in the classroom.

“Teaching is made up of all these small moments, and often it’s those small moments that mean the most,” says Inglis, 2022-23 Tennessee Teacher of the Year Grand Division Winner for Middle Tennessee. “I had a student who didn’t know her multiplication back at the beginning of the year, but when we were reviewing in March, she stood up at the front of the board and solved a three-digit by three-digit multiplication problem in front of her classmates and explained every step. That was just huge, and so I think about how much work went into that day in and day out for her to be able to do that. We work really hard on building community in the classroom, so watching my students support each other was really special.” 

The Tennessee Teacher of the Year program recognizes and celebrates the wealth of excellent teachers working in schools across the state.

In 2022, Murfreesboro City Schools boasted not only a Teacher of the Year but also a Milken Award Winner and a finalist for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching award.

Erin Nunley, a science teacher at Overall Creek Elementary, was one of only three state finalists for the award, which recognizes teachers for their contributions to teaching and STEM education.

Fellow Black Fox teacher Raeven Brooks was recognized as a Milken Award Winner. Along with receiving a $25,000 prize, Brooks joins the national Milken Educator Network of more than 2,800 exceptional educators and leaders across the country dedicated to strengthening K-12 education.

“Murfreesboro City Schools and the community that we build is special. Being part of a district that is truly solution-based and always looking to be better and work together, is special,” says Brooks, a Murfreesboro native.

“I try to bring that community in my classroom and make sure my students feel seen and heard and safe. I really do love being part of a district that walks the walk and talks the talk, is forward-thinking, and does all it can to support students and their families.”