Oakhaven Elementary vs Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary

Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary ranks #12 of 1,785 Tennessee elementary schools, placing it in the top 1% statewide. Oakhaven Elementary is no slouch at #41 of 1,785 — top 3% — but the 29-position gap is meaningful in a field this large. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's overall rating of 9.4/10 edges Oakhaven Elementary's 9.0/10, a margin that reflects real academic differences rather than rounding noise.

The academic gap is the sharpest distinction between these two schools. Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary scores 9.2/10 on academics versus Oakhaven Elementary's 7.7/10 — a 1.5-point delta that signals higher tested proficiency at Balmoral/Ridgeway. Oakhaven Elementary counters with a 9.9/10 growth score against Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's 9.3/10, meaning students at Oakhaven are advancing faster relative to their starting points. Families prioritizing where kids are today should look at Balmoral/Ridgeway; families prioritizing trajectory and year-over-year gains should take that 9.9 seriously.

Oakhaven Elementary enrolls 523 students compared to Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's 271 — nearly double the population. That size difference carries through to staffing: Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary's student-teacher ratio of 12.3:1 is tighter than Oakhaven Elementary's 14.5:1, translating to roughly two fewer students per classroom. For families where teacher attention and smaller-school feel matter, Balmoral/Ridgeway's numbers are concrete advantages, not abstractions.

One structural difference separates these schools at the entry point: Oakhaven Elementary serves grades PK–05, offering a Pre-K year that Balmoral/Ridgeway Elementary does not — Balmoral/Ridgeway starts at Kindergarten. Families with rising four-year-olds looking to stay in one building through 5th grade have only one option here. Both schools sit 5.7 miles apart within Memphis, making them realistic alternatives for families in between neighborhoods weighing the trade-offs across all four dimensions above.