Nashville School of the Arts, 1250 Foster Ave.: grades 9-12, 548 students in 2024-25, state letter grade B.
Last checked Oct. 19, 2026. Sources: Nashville School of the Arts, Metro Nashville Public Schools’ school directory, 2026-27 pathways chart (PDF), district calendar, school start times and zone finder, the Tennessee Department of Education’s State Report Card, 2024-25 letter grade, school profile, graduation rate and ACT files and spring 2026 test file and the federal NCES school directory.
Nashville School of the Arts is a Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) high school serving ninth grade through 12th grade. MNPS’s 2026-27 pathways chart lists it with the Glencliff cluster in the district’s Southeast quadrant. MNPS lists it among its magnet schools.
- Address: 1250 Foster Ave., Nashville, TN 37210
- Main office: 615-291-6600
- Grades: 9-12
- School hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 start times
- Website: nsa.mnps.org
Who to call
- Front office: 615-291-6600
- Enrolling a new student: the school, or the Glencliff Enrollment Center, 160 Antioch Pike, 615-333-5070, option 7, open 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays (all eight centers); MNPS Family Information Center 615-259-4636
- Applying: the MNPS School Options process
- Getting there: MNPS says that in most cases it does not provide school buses to out-of-zone students at optional schools; high school students, and middle school students at MNPS optional schools, ride WeGo buses free through the StrIDe program (Transportation, 615-259-4636)
Principal
Principal Justin Thomas, according to the school’s website.
Enrollment
The federal NCES directory counted 569 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 17 students per teacher. The Tennessee Department of Education’s 2024-25 school profile file has a newer count of 548 students.
State report card
Tennessee grades every public school A to F. The department says School Letter Grades give “a snapshot of how each school in the state is performing, including student achievement and academic growth measures for all schools, as well as a measure of college and career readiness just for high schools.”
From the state’s 2024-25 letter grade file, 2025 graduation rate file and 2024-25 ACT file:
| Measure | Nashville School of the Arts |
|---|---|
| Overall letter grade, 2024-25 | B (score 3.8 of 5) |
| Achievement grade | A |
| Academic growth grade | D |
| Growth of the lowest-scoring 25% of students | D |
| College and career readiness grade | A |
| Overall success rate on state tests, 2024-25 | 41.1% |
| College and career readiness rate, 2024-25 | 71.8% |
| Graduation rate, class of 2025 | 94.4% (117 of 124 students) |
| Average ACT composite, 2024-25 | 19.6 (116 students tested) |
The state’s spring 2026 test file has the share of Nashville School of the Arts students who met or exceeded expectations on each end-of-course exam: English I 46.5%, English II 74.6%, Integrated Math I 26.2%, Integrated Math II 32%, Integrated Math III 26.5%, Biology 60.1% and U.S. History 50.6%. The 2025-26 letter grades have not been published yet.
The State Report Card page for Nashville School of the Arts holds the full detail: results by grade and subject, chronic absenteeism and results for each group of students.
Admission and pathway
Nashville School of the Arts has no attendance zone. Students apply through the district’s School Options process, which MNPS says uses a computerized random selection for applications received by the deadline; for 2026-27, applications opened Jan. 20, 2026, and were due Feb. 13. New MNPS families may apply year-round to optional schools with open seats.
MNPS lists Nashville School of the Arts among the schools that require students to audition or interview; the school contacts applicants to arrange it.
The district’s 2026-27 pathways chart (PDF) lists Nashville School of the Arts with the Glencliff cluster, whose zoned high school is Glencliff High.
Calendar and school hours
The MNPS 2026-27 district calendar has these dates next:
- Thursday, Oct. 22: report cards issued
- Tuesday, Nov. 3: parent conference day, no school for students
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, district closed
- Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break (district closed Nov. 26-27)
- Dec. 15-17: half days for high school exams
- Friday, Dec. 18: half day; the second quarter ends
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break
- March 22-26, 2027: spring break and the spring holiday
- Tuesday, May 25, 2027: last day for students, a half day
The school day runs 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 school start times; the school kept its schedule when the district adjusted start times for 2026-27.
Sports and activities
The school’s website says it has a cooperative athletics agreement with Glencliff High. For game nights, see our Friday night football guide and the scoreboard.
More
- The school’s own site: nsa.mnps.org
- The school’s listing in the MNPS schools directory
- Neighborhood guides for the Glencliff zone: South Nashville, Antioch-Priest Lake, Southeast Nashville
- Every public school in the city: Nashville public schools
- Calendars, enrollment and the school board: our Nashville schools guide
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Nashville School of the Arts serve?
Ninth grade through 12th grade. The school is at 1250 Foster Ave. in Nashville; the main office number is 615-291-6600.
What is Nashville School of the Arts’s state report card grade?
Nashville School of the Arts received a B overall in Tennessee’s 2024-25 School Letter Grades, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.
What time does Nashville School of the Arts start?
School runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 school start times.
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