Original Research by School Decision on Hillcrest High School
Hillcrest High School sits within the Achievement School District, a state-run turnaround district in Tennessee that is currently being dissolved by legislation passed in 2025, with all remaining schools returning to local district control starting in the 2026-27 school year. This means that families currently at Hillcrest will soon see their school transferred to Memphis-Shelby County Schools, a transition that is already underway as the ASD has contracted from a peak of 26 schools to just a few in the current school year.
The school itself is a regular public high school with charter status, serving grades nine through twelve in the Memphis neighborhood near Graceland. Its enrollment is small for a comprehensive high school. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a small Hispanic share and very small numbers of Asian, white, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. Data on students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities, and English learners were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the share of students receiving support services.
There is no state testing data reported for Hillcrest, which is not unusual for a high school that serves only upper grades; state assessments in Tennessee are given in earlier grades. The district brief notes that a 2024 Brown University study found the Achievement School District did not significantly improve student test scores or graduation rates and may have led to worse high school test scores, which informed the legislative decision to dissolve it. A parent should consider that Hillcrest's academic record under ASD management is not established by available data, and the coming transfer to Memphis-Shelby County Schools may bring changes to curriculum, leadership, and support.
Housing in the surrounding zip code is below the state median home value, and rents are modest relative to the national average, a pattern consistent with many neighborhoods in Memphis. The city itself offers extensive cultural and civic amenities: Tom Lee Park downtown completed a major renovation in 2023, Overton Park houses the Memphis Zoo, Shelby Farms Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States, and landmarks such as the National Civil Rights Museum, Graceland, Sun Studio, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music draw residents and visitors. Beale Street anchors the city's civic life, and the Memphis Area Transit Authority provides public bus service.
Hillcrest High School is a small charter high school in a state-run district that is ending. Its academic results are not available in state data, and the district's own research record raises questions about the model. The school's future governance is certain to shift in the near term. For a family, the primary consideration is whether the coming transition to Memphis-Shelby County Schools and the school's current small, predominantly Black student body fit what they are looking for, and what the school's academic program actually looks like day to day. Without testing data or program listings, those are questions best answered by visiting and talking to current staff and families.
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