About

Transforming Nashville’s educational landscape through equity-driven research.

Our Mission

We bring researchers and educators together as partners to understand and disrupt educational inequities so that every student thrives.

We Work to Understand Challenges

Like other U.S. cities, Nashville is reckoning with inequities in educational opportunities, access, and outcomes. The challenges in eliminating these inequities are great. By joining forces to better understand these challenges and to co-design and implement solutions, PEER will focus the time, attention, and resources necessary to eradicate educational inequities in Nashville.

PEER engages educators, families, students, and the community with researchers to examine longstanding problems, understand their complexities, and help district and community leaders make equity-centered decisions at the school and district levels.

We are all aware of the issues faced by public schools in Nashville and throughout the country relating to disproportionality and inequities for academic and social-emotional learning outcomes. Identifying the most effective solutions to eliminate those inequities represents the most difficult challenge we face—but also the biggest reward if we’re successful.

Adrienne Battle

Metro Nashville Public Schools

We Co-Create Solutions

We enact full cycles of research, design, and implementation, with researchers and practitioners collaborating at every step. We are committed to rigorously, creatively, and collaboratively putting our research-backed recommendations into action, studying whether and how they work—and how effective solutions can be brought to scale across our diverse district.

We Value Partnership

PEER researchers and educators work in partnership through every stage of the research cycle. PEER invests in building relationships, strengthening communication channels, and creating infrastructure for a deep, equal, and lasting partnership.

Our joint Steering Committee and cross-institutional Working Groups are key to our collaboration, as are the voices of students, teachers, families, and community members.

“By combining Vanderbilt’s research expertise with MNPS’ deep contextual knowledge, we can strengthen outcomes for all of Nashville’s learners.”

Camilla P. Benbow

Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human
Development at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

Engage with Us

We want you to learn more about what we do and why we do it. We invite you to sign up to receive updates to learn how you can help us champion equity.