Glenwood Elementary vs Willow Brook Elementary

Glenwood Elementary and Willow Brook Elementary are both top-tier Oak Ridge schools, but the gap between them is sharper than their overall ratings suggest. Glenwood Elementary earns a 9.5/10 overall versus Willow Brook Elementary's 9.1/10 — a 0.4-point difference that translates into a significant state-rank separation: Glenwood Elementary sits at #8 of 1,785 Tennessee elementary schools while Willow Brook Elementary ranks #39 of 1,785. Both placements are exceptional in absolute terms, but Glenwood Elementary's position puts it in a rarefied tier that fewer than a dozen Tennessee schools reach.

The academic score delta is the most consequential difference between the two schools. Glenwood Elementary scores 9.4/10 academically versus Willow Brook Elementary's 7.6/10 — a 1.8-point gap that reflects meaningfully stronger measured proficiency outcomes. Willow Brook Elementary partially offsets this with a higher growth score: 9.8/10 versus Glenwood Elementary's 9.5/10, indicating that Willow Brook students are making slightly faster year-over-year academic progress relative to their starting points. Families weighing current achievement level against trajectory will find a genuine trade-off here, not simply one school outperforming the other across the board.

On the demographic and structural side, Glenwood Elementary enrolls 359 students compared to Willow Brook Elementary's 412 — a 53-student difference that gives Glenwood a marginally smaller campus feel. Student-teacher ratios are close: Glenwood Elementary at 12.0:1 versus Willow Brook Elementary at 11.4:1, meaning Willow Brook students on average have slightly more access to teacher attention. Neither ratio signals a resource concern; both sit well below national averages for public elementary schools.

Both schools serve grades KG through 04, so families with children spanning kindergarten through fourth grade can use either school without a grade-range mismatch. The two campuses sit 4.5 miles apart within Oak Ridge, making geography a practical factor for families closer to one side of the city. No specialized program distinctions are available in the current data set, so the choice ultimately hinges on whether a family prioritizes peak academic achievement levels or above-average growth momentum.