ChessKid Grant Winner Metro Nashville Public Schools Gets Ready for Hour of Chess Week!

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) was one of the largest and most diverse school systems to apply for a ChessKid grant in 2020 with 84,000 students and 48.6% on free and reduced lunch.

MNPS is the second-largest school district in Tennessee and has the most English language learners in Tennessee. Approximately 30 percent of its student population speaks a language other than English.

(Side note -- ChessKid is also available in many languages, including Spanish, French, German, Russian, Korean, Greek, and a few more!)

What Made Metro Nashville's Grant Application Stand Out?

One of the things we look at in evaluating a grant application is the administrative team at a school district’s central office and the likelihood of receiving the necessary support at a system-wide level for the online chess program to succeed. Coordination and support at the central-office level is critical in large systems like Metro Nashville that face unique challenges in launching any new initiatives. The administrators at MNPS have been exceptional to work with and have shown their appreciation for chess as a driver of academic success.

According to Alyson Lerma, Ed.D, MNPS Director of Grants Development & Management, “This partnership has been exceptionally important to our students during this time of virtual learning due to high COVID-19 rates in Nashville.”

Not only have they been creative in providing support from the central office level in rolling out a system-wide chess program, administrators are seeing the impact in their own homes.

Keri Randolph, Ed.L.D., Executive Officer for Strategic State, Federal and Philanthropic Investments, shared, “I now live with a 3rd-grade chess enthusiast as a result of ChessKid. He shows me something new almost every day.”

School District Newsletters

Lindsey Kimery, MNPS Coordinator of Library Services, produces newsletters like this one to keep the many schools in her system informed on their progress:

“I think I'd been on the job for two weeks when we started talking about ChessKid. It took a minute with the challenges of this school year to get it rolling, but we made it happen, and it's fun to see ChessKid still gaining momentum,” shared Lindsey.

What was exceptional was the percentage of participation/usage from the following schools during their first Hour of Chess week (in fall, 2020): Neely's Bend (65%), Ruby Major (59%), Tulip Grove (54%), and Thomas Edison (53%)!

Students from Thomas Edison Elementary pictured below:

 

 

What’s Next: Metro Nashville Prepares for February Hour of Chess Week and a City-Wide Chess Championship!

MNPS has big plans culminating in an online City-Wide Chess Championship on ChessKid. But, first kids have to qualify at each school to play in a school-level chess championship. To qualify for the school-level event, students need to finish nine lessons + play five games (kid or bot). The top finishers at each school-level tournament. Qualifying must be completed by the end of Hour of Chess Week (Feb. 22-26), but kids can start now working on lessons!

 

Want to Learn More?

 

If your organization is interested in learning more about the benefits of chess or if you have a great story about how chess has had a positive impact on your kids, please contact Ranae Bartlett, ChessKid Education Director at [email protected]. If you want to set up a chess program with 100+ kids, we have tools and resources to help you!