Wooddale Middle School, Memphis TN

Original Research by School Decision on Wooddale Middle School

Wooddale Middle School operates as a state-run charter middle school in Memphis, serving grades six through eight as a regular public school within Tennessee’s Achievement School District. The school enrolls a student body that is majority Black, with a substantial share of Hispanic students and small numbers of white and Asian students. The student population is almost evenly split between Black and Hispanic backgrounds.

State testing data from Tennessee’s TNReady assessments shows that the school’s overall proficiency across math, English language arts, science, and social studies sits in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Shelby County. Proficiency in math and English language arts was low compared to state expectations. Science proficiency was also low, and social studies had a higher but still low proficiency rate. A parent should note that these figures represent the performance of students in tested grades on state standardized assessments.

The school’s academic climate sits within a larger, publicly reported context. The Achievement School District was created as a state-run turnaround district for schools identified as low-performing. Publicly reported research found that the ASD did not deliver significant improvements in student test scores or graduation rates, and the Tennessee legislature passed a measure in 2025 to dissolve the ASD beginning in the 2026-27 school year. All remaining ASD schools, including Wooddale Middle School, are scheduled to be transferred back to local district control, which for this school means a return to Memphis-Shelby County Schools. This change represents a major shift in governance and oversight that families should expect to see take effect in the coming years.

The school’s enrollment is large enough to fill three grade levels with a roughly even split across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The housing market in the immediate area, based on the ZIP code, shows home values below the national median and rent prices that are moderate relative to the region. The economic context includes a national unemployment rate that has remained stable and a 30-year mortgage rate that has fluctuated modestly in recent months.

The district brief also notes that the ASD has contracted from a much larger network of schools to just a handful in a short period, with many of its former schools returning to local district control, moving to a state charter commission, or closing. Wooddale Middle School is one of the remaining ASD schools, and its future governance will change.

Overall, Wooddale Middle School is a school that serves a diverse middle school population in Memphis and has low academic proficiency as measured by state tests. The school is in a period of significant transition, with the state-level decision to dissolve its governing district meaning that families will see the school move to a different public school system in the near term. A parent looking into this school may want to ask directly about how the transition to Memphis-Shelby County Schools will be managed, what support for students is in place during this change, and what academic programs or interventions are being used at the school.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grades 3-88%

School 8% · District 6% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

English language arts

Grades 3-89%

School 9% · District 7% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-815%

School 15% · District 13% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Social studies

Grades 3-822%

School 22% · District 16% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolAchievement School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income11%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income8%3 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income9%Higher-income9%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income8%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income8%Higher-income7%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income10%1 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income8%Higher-income8%0 pp gap