Promise Academy Spring Hill, Memphis TN

Original Research by School Decision on Promise Academy Spring Hill

Promise Academy Spring Hill serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Memphis, Tennessee, operating as a public charter school under the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. That commission, which took over charter school appellate authorizing from the state board of education in 2021, has been adding schools in the Nashville, Memphis, and Murfreesboro areas, with its authorized portfolio growing to 17 schools by the 2024-25 school year. Promise Academy Spring Hill, a regular school in the Frayser area of Memphis, is part of that expanding network.

The student body is predominantly Black, with a small share of Hispanic students and a handful of white and multiracial students. The school is an elementary-only campus, with its largest grade cohorts in kindergarten and fourth grade. Free- and reduced-price lunch eligibility data is missing, as are counts of students with disabilities and English learners, so a family looking for a complete picture of the school’s economic and support profile will want to ask the school directly for those figures.

State testing data for the 2024-25 school year shows that in math, about a quarter of students tested at the proficient or above level. In English language arts and in science, the share was just over one in five. The school’s overall proficiency index, a combined measure across subjects, places Promise Academy Spring Hill in the bottom quartile among Shelby County districts. Participation rates on all three tests were high, which strengthens confidence in the results. A parent should weigh these outcomes carefully: the school’s academic performance, based on the most recent available data, falls well below the middle of the pack in the county.

Because the school serves only early and elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to assess, and chronic absenteeism data was not reported. No information on course access, staffing ratios, or discipline patterns was available, so a family that wants a full view of the classroom environment will need to visit and ask.

Housing in the surrounding zip code is priced well below state and national benchmarks. Home values have seen a modest year-over-year decline, while rents have held steady. The area is part of the broader Memphis metro, whose well-known civic assets include Tom Lee Park, which underwent a major renovation in 2023, Shelby Farms Park, and Overton Park near Rhodes College. Cultural institutions such as the National Civil Rights Museum and Graceland are citywide draws.

For families considering Promise Academy Spring Hill, the central takeaway is straightforward. This is a small, elementary-level charter serving a nearly all-Black student body in north Memphis, with academic proficiency that the state’s own tests place well below most other districts in the county. The growth of the authorizing commission means more such schools are opening across the region, but this particular school’s academic numbers are a clear soft spot that merits direct inquiry with the principal about what supports, interventions, or curricular changes are underway.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grades 3-827%

School 27% · District 32% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grades 3-821%

School 21% · District 31% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-821%

School 21% · District 32% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

This schoolTennessee Public Charter School Commission, 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 3Lower-income19%Higher-income17%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income14%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income28%3 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income22%Higher-income20%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income36%Higher-income28%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income21%Higher-income19%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income27%Higher-income28%1 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income28%Higher-income25%3 pp gap