The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in Science. The lowest is 11% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Spring Hill Elementary
Spring Hill Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in east Knoxville, part of the Knox County school system. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. With a student body that numbers in the low hundreds for its grade band, it is a mid-sized elementary school by Knox County standards.
The school’s academic profile is drawn from Tennessee’s TNReady state assessments for grades three through eight. In math, roughly one in five students scored at the proficient or advanced level. In English language arts, the share was similar. Science proficiency was a bit higher, still around one in four students reaching that bar. These results place the school’s overall proficiency index above the midpoint of the comparison group, which was formed from the Knox County districts; the cohort was very small, so that positioning should be understood in a narrow context. Social studies assessment data is available only from an earlier school year and involved a change in both the test and the cut scores, making it unwise to compare directly with current results. Participation rates in the state tests were high, which lends confidence that the results reflect the whole tested population.
The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. A substantial portion of students are Black, a sizable share are Hispanic, and about a quarter are White. Students who identify as two or more races also make up a meaningful part of the enrollment. Asian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students are present in very small numbers. The school does not report the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, nor does it report counts for students with disabilities or English learners, so a family looking to understand the proportion of students from lower-income households or the level of special education support would need to ask the school directly.
Spring Hill Elementary sits within Knoxville, a mid-sized city that is home to the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus and the Tennessee Valley Authority headquarters. The city has seen steady metropolitan growth and a revitalized downtown anchored by Gay Street and Market Square, but the school’s immediate neighborhood is east of the urban core, in an area that mixes residential streets with some commercial corridors. Housing values in the school’s ZIP code are below the state median, and rents have been rising faster than the national average, consistent with Knoxville’s broader growth pressures.
At the district level, Knox County Schools has been implementing a shift toward balanced literacy instruction with structured phonics, a change that may affect how reading is taught in elementary grades. The county also approved a property tax increase in recent years to fund school operations, which means homeowners in the district have seen a higher tax burden.
There is no data available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or course access at the school. For an elementary school that does not serve older grades, program offerings like art, music, or physical education are not captured in the available records. Parents considering Spring Hill Elementary may want to inquire directly about those areas, as well as about the school’s approach to supporting the diverse learners it serves.
The school’s test results are below state averages in a district where overall performance is mixed. A family weighing this school should look into the specific instructional programs and school culture by visiting or speaking with current families, since the state data alone gives only a partial picture of what the day-to-day experience is like for students.
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