The top reported proficiency rate is 9% in Social studies. The lowest is 6% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Westside Middle School
Westside Middle School is a charter school in Memphis serving grades six through eight. It operates within Tennessee’s Achievement School District, a state-run turnaround district that has contracted sharply in recent years. In April 2025 state lawmakers passed legislation to dissolve the ASD entirely, with the remaining schools returning to local district control—in this case, Memphis-Shelby County Schools—by the 2026-27 academic year. That means the governance structure families experience now will change soon, though exactly how the transition affects staffing and programming is not yet detailed in the public record.
The school enrolls around three hundred students. The student body is predominantly Black, with small shares of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals was not reported. Nor were figures for students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the availability of special education and language support services.
On state assessments in the 2023-24 school year, Westside Middle’s results were very low. The mathematics proficiency rate was suppressed and not reported, though nearly three hundred students took the test. In English language arts, about six percent of students scored proficient or above. In science, the rate was similarly about six percent. In social studies, roughly nine percent scored proficient or above. The school’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects placed it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Shelby County. Participation rates were high, with nearly every student taking the tests.
Given that this is a middle school without a high school, no graduation rate applies. Chronic absenteeism data was not available, though that is a metric worth checking with the school, as it often correlates with academic outcomes and student engagement. The school’s program offerings—such as electives, arts, or extracurriculars—were not included in the data, so a parent seeking a fuller picture of what a typical school day looks like will need to contact the school office or visit directly.
The housing market in the surrounding area shows home values well below both the state and national median. Rents are also modest compared to broader benchmarks. Both home values and rents have seen a modest decline over the most recent year measured. That context may matter for families deciding where to live while their child attends this school, though the school itself draws from within the Achievement School District’s attendance zone.
The larger Memphis environment offers many cultural and civic anchors—Tom Lee Park along the Mississippi River, Shelby Farms Park, Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo, Beale Street, the National Civil Rights Museum, and FedExForum. The Memphis Area Transit Authority provides public bus service. These are the kinds of community resources a family would weigh alongside the school’s academic profile.
Westside Middle School serves a student population that is nearly all Black and economically disadvantaged, based on the zip code context, and its academic performance on state tests is far below the county median. The coming dissolution of the Achievement School District means this school will soon be under a different administrative structure. For a parent considering this school, the most concrete next steps would be to speak with the current administration about how the transition to Memphis-Shelby County Schools is expected to affect staffing, curriculum, and student supports, and to request the school’s own data on attendance, discipline, and program availability, since state-level data does not provide those details here.
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