"There are too many kids in this city not getting a college ready education and frankly, it's disproportionately distributed against those who have the lowest incomes, and that's not fair, and what we're trying to do here is reverse that," said Coverstone.  "We spent too much time in the past pointing fingers at why we weren't achieving. Now, we're focused on how can we bring all the people who have something to offer into the fold and achieve for the kids on the outcome. The difference is we're focused on what the kids are learning." "I am grateful to be where I am, serving the students I am serving. I love coming to work every single day and will not rest until every child who walks into an iZone School walks out with the same quality of education, the same opportunities, and the same sense of hope that every child deserves.” - Alan Coverstone, Executive Director

Mission

The mission of the Office of Innovation is to transform the lives of students through dynamic instruction in collaboration with communities to maximize future opportunity for all.

Vision

Metro Nashville Public Schools is committed to building a city in which every child has the educational opportunity to fulfill the most wonderful dreams, and it is those dreams that will shape our future. In Nashville, Tennessee, our opportunity is now, and we are calling on everyone to support our students. MNPS Innovation schools will not just be better than they have been, they will be among the very best schools in our nation, and the students we serve will lead the way into the future we all want to see.

By implementing new and innovative practices, this office will:

• Increase the number of college ready graduates by preparing students for college, career and life. 
• Develop new methods of instruction that are more attentive to the social and emotional lives and the diversity of academic needs of students.
• Ensure rigorous and personalized academic experiences that result in strong academic achievement and open pathways to genuine opportunity for students
• Develop means of localizing resource allocation in order to enable significant resource redeployment in support of data-driven redesign of school-level curriculum, instruction and personnel decisions

Family and Community Support
Family engagement begins with student engagement, and student engagement depends on teacher engagement that is ultimately a function of the team-oriented social and emotional leadership of the school’s principal.  Communicating, engaging, and supporting families is the personal responsibility of each iTeacher and iLeader in our schools.

Professional Development Support
The Innovation Cluster will provide three specific supports for the school-level leadership of the iLeader:

• Inspirational Schools Partnership (ISP) – As an ISP member, each school will have access to ISP Network Directors, the Navigator assessment tool, external review teams and support in developing, and leading school-level planning. Membership also connects iLeaders to other principals in peer-support relationships and encourages development of positive collaboration among the teachers in the school.
• Transformation Facilitator – The Transformation Facilitator will be stationed on-site at the school to support and advise the principal on matters of change management and ensuring timely implementation of approved innovations that may require some adjustment to District-level practices. The Transformation Facilitator also manages collection of leading indicator data, supports principal presentations at SIG quarterly milestones, and guides the development, review, and adjustment of school improvement plans that align ISP action plans with Title I spending plans and other planning strands to ensure a single and useful planning document is a living tool that the principal uses to support continuous improvement.
•  Bi-Weekly Transformation Team Meetings – The Coordinator of Innovation and Turnaround will develop a bi-weekly protocol aligned with school-level design, implementation, action, and assessment plans that will guide bi-weekly review of data and progress to support the principal in remaining focused on the large improvement goals of the school and acting quickly when progress in any large area stalls.