Cherokee Elementary vs North Side Elementary

North Side Elementary and Cherokee Elementary are both elementary schools serving PK–05 in Johnson City, Tennessee, just 3.2 miles apart — but their overall ratings tell meaningfully different stories. North Side Elementary holds a 9.7/10 overall rating against Cherokee Elementary's 8.7/10, a full 1.0-point gap. That separation becomes starker in statewide context: North Side Elementary ranks #2 of 1,785 schools in Tennessee, while Cherokee Elementary ranks #95 of 1,785 — both are strong performers, but North Side operates at an exceptional tier that fewer than five schools in the state match.

Academically, the two schools are close. North Side Elementary scores 9.6/10 and Cherokee Elementary scores 9.5/10 — a 0.1-point difference that indicates near-identical tested proficiency. Where North Side Elementary pulls decisively ahead is in growth: a 9.9/10 growth score versus Cherokee Elementary's 8.8/10, a gap of 1.1 points. Growth scores measure how much students improve year-over-year relative to peers with similar starting points, so North Side's near-perfect mark suggests its students are consistently outpacing expected progress regardless of where they began.

Enrollment is nearly identical — 357 students at North Side Elementary and 354 at Cherokee Elementary — so class-size dynamics aren't driven by school population. The student-teacher ratio diverges more: North Side Elementary at 12.3:1 versus Cherokee Elementary's 14.8:1. That 2.5-student-per-teacher difference means North Side classes are roughly 17% smaller on average, which tends to translate into more individualized instruction time in the early elementary years.

Both schools serve the same grade band, PK through 5th grade, so families aren't choosing between different coverage years. The practical distinction is performance ceiling and classroom intensity: North Side Elementary's #2 statewide rank and 9.9/10 growth score reflect an environment where academic momentum is unusually strong, while Cherokee Elementary's #95 rank still places it comfortably in the top 6% of all Tennessee elementary schools — a legitimately high-performing option for families outside North Side's attendance zone.