The National Paideia Center

Jones Paideia Magnet School is a thematic magnet school that receives students from all over Davidson County. Our theme is Paideia. We were named in honor of Richard W. Jones, a former principal with sixty-years of service to Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. While Jones has operated as a Paideia school for the last thirteen years, four years ago the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools District decided to revamp their current Paideia schools and open a brand-new Paideia middle school. In keeping with this restructuring, Jones changed from a K-8 school formerly known as Buena Vista-Jones Paideia to a K-4 program called Jones Paideia. Due to the many changes of faculty and staff throughout the years, the school district contracted with the National Paideia Center for faculty training. We began training during the 2002-2003 school year and trained on one Paideia Component each year, beginning with Seminar. All formal training was completed during the 2004-2005 school year. This year we have focused on the implementation of all Paideia components with continued monitoring and training through technical site visits from the National Paideia faculty.

Currently, Jones Paideia serves approximately 360 students in grades kindergarten through four. The school was constructed in 1936 and stands on the corner of Garfield and Ninth Avenue, North in a, primarily inter-city, residential neighborhood.