Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary vs Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus

Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary and Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus sit 2.1 miles apart in Memphis and both rank among Tennessee's elite elementary schools — but their positions on that list differ meaningfully. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary holds the tighter edge overall, rated 9.4/10 against Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus's 9.2/10, and that gap reflects where each school lands statewide: Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary ranks #12 of 1,785 Tennessee schools while Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus ranks #26 of the same pool. Both are exceptional, but Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary sits roughly a quartile higher in the state's top tier.

The academic and growth scores tell two different stories. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's academic score of 9.2/10 outpaces Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus's 7.4/10 — a 1.8-point gap that signals meaningfully stronger current proficiency levels. Flip that dynamic when looking at growth: Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus scores a perfect 10.0/10 on growth against Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's already-strong 9.3/10. That 0.7-point growth advantage means Compass is accelerating student progress at a faster rate, even if its baseline proficiency lags behind. Families weighing where students currently perform against how fast they'll improve will find genuine trade-offs between these two data points.

Enrollment and classroom density are nearly identical at both campuses. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary serves 271 students at a 12.3:1 student-teacher ratio; Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus enrolls 254 students at 12.7:1. Neither school is overcrowded, and the ratio difference of 0.4 students per teacher is unlikely to translate into a perceptible classroom experience gap. The structural distinction that matters more is governance: Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary operates as a regular public school within Shelby County Schools, while Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus is a charter school — a difference that affects enrollment processes, school culture, and operational flexibility.

The most concrete structural difference between the two schools is grade span. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary covers kindergarten through fifth grade only, meaning families will navigate a middle school transition at sixth grade. Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus runs kindergarten through eighth grade, keeping students in the same building through middle school and eliminating that transition entirely for families who plan to stay in the area through those years.