The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in Science. The lowest is 8% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Howard Connect Academy
Howard Connect Academy is a regular public middle school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, serving grades six through eight. It is part of the Hamilton County district. The school is not a charter or magnet. The building is located at 100 East 25th Street, in the city’s downtown area.
On state assessments administered in the 2024-2025 school year, the school’s proficiency rates were low across all tested subjects. In math, about one in eight students scored at the proficient level or above. In English language arts, the rate was about one in thirteen. In science, the rate was slightly higher, at roughly one in six. In social studies, it was about one in eight. Participation rates were near full for all subjects. These figures represent a single year of data, and no multi-year trend information was available for this report. Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The comparison set for the school relative to other districts in Hamilton County was too small to produce a meaningful benchmark, so we cannot place these results against local peers.
The student body is small. Just under nine in ten students identify as Black or Hispanic, with a roughly even split between the two groups. The remainder of the enrollment is primarily White or multiracial. Information on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, receive special education services, or are classified as English learners was not provided in the available data. That absence means a family considering this school would need to ask the school directly about those support structures.
Chattanooga is a mid-sized city that has undergone a well-documented downtown revival, anchored by the Tennessee Riverwalk, the Tennessee Aquarium, and a growing network of parks and greenways. The local economy is diversified across automotive manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, tourism, and back-office operations. The city has been named one of the best places to live by several national outlets and was designated America’s first National Park City in 2025. The housing market in the area surrounding the school shows values above the typical state and national levels, and rents are also above typical benchmarks. The broader metropolitan area is growing, and the city’s downtown core is walkable, but most outlying residential areas are car-dependent.
The Hamilton County district has made two recent changes that affect the broader system. In August 2023, the district opened a new East Brainerd Elementary School, replacing a building destroyed by a tornado in 2020. That new facility relieves overcrowding in the fast-growing East Brainerd corridor. The district also shifted to a structured literacy approach grounded in the science of reading, starting with kindergarten through second grade in the 2022-2023 school year and expanding to additional grades. That change replaced balanced literacy with explicit phonics-based instruction. Both of these are district-wide initiatives; no specific programmatic changes were reported for Howard Connect Academy itself.
The school’s data on discipline, chronic absenteeism, course access, and staffing were not available for this profile. A parent or guardian may want to ask the school directly about student behavior, attendance patterns, and the range of elective or enrichment courses offered.
Howard Connect Academy is a middle school serving a small, predominantly Black and Hispanic student population. Its state assessment results are low across the board. The school sits in a city that is growing and economically diverse, with housing costs that are above typical state and national levels. The district has made recent pedagogical and facility investments, but those are not specific to this school. For a family, the next step would be to visit the school, speak with staff about academic support and student services, and understand how the school addresses the challenges its performance data suggests.
See more original research from School Decision →