The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in Math. The lowest is 16% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Clifton Hills Elementary School
Clifton Hills Elementary School is a regular public school in Chattanooga serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of Hamilton County Schools, the district that covers Chattanooga and surrounding areas. The school sits in a city that has seen a well-documented downtown revival, with a diversified economy spanning automotive manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, and tourism. Chattanooga's population has grown in recent years, and the city was named America's first National Park City in 2025. The broader Hamilton County district has made a district-wide shift to a structured literacy approach grounded in the science of reading, beginning with early elementary grades in recent years. The district also opened a replacement school in the East Brainerd corridor after the original building was destroyed by a tornado.
Clifton Hills Elementary enrolls a very large student body for an elementary school. The student population is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black student population and very small shares of white students and students of two or more races. Data on students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, students with disabilities, and English learners was not available, so a full picture of the school's support needs is not possible from this data alone.
State testing results are available for math, English language arts, and science. On the TNReady assessments, which measure proficiency at Levels 3 and 4, the share of students scoring proficient or above in math was below the midpoint of schools statewide. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was lower still, and in science it was also below typical levels seen across Tennessee. The school had full participation in all three tests, meaning nearly every enrolled student took the assessments. These results indicate that the school's academic performance, as measured by state tests, is an area where a parent may want to look into this further with the school, to understand what academic supports and interventions are in place and how the school is working to raise achievement.
Because Clifton Hills is an elementary school, it does not have a graduation rate to report. The neighbor comparison data, which would position the school's proficiency index and other metrics relative to other districts in Hamilton County, was not available because the county contains only one district at this level of comparison.
The school's setting is in a mid-sized city with a walkable downtown core featuring cultural attractions such as the Tennessee Aquarium and the Hunter Museum of American Art. Outside the downtown area, the city's terrain of ridges and valleys means most neighborhoods are car-dependent. The housing market in the surrounding area has seen values that are substantially lower than national benchmarks, and the typical home value has been roughly flat in recent months. The national unemployment rate has been stable and near historic lows, and the national median household income has been rising slowly. The typical home value in the broader state is notably higher than in the school's immediate area, making this a more affordable pocket of Chattanooga.
The school's academic numbers are the clearest signal in the available data. Parents evaluating Clifton Hills should consider what supplemental academic support the school offers, what the district's literacy initiative looks like in practice at this building, and whether the school's test results align with their expectations for early elementary education. The student body is large and diverse, and the surrounding community offers a growing city with a revitalized downtown but a car-dependent residential landscape. The most notable gap in the data is the absence of information on income levels, special education services, English learner programs, and discipline rates, all of which would help a family understand the full student experience.
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