Southwind Elementary vs Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus

Southwind Elementary and Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus sit 5.3 miles apart in Memphis and land near the top of Tennessee's elementary school rankings, but the gap between them is tighter than most parents expect. Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus holds the #33 state rank out of 1,785 Tennessee schools, while Southwind Elementary sits at #49 — a meaningful but close 16-position spread in a state with nearly 1,800 schools. Overall rating separates them by just 0.1 points, with Compass at 9.2/10 and Southwind at 9.1/10.

The academic picture diverges sharply beneath the headline numbers. Southwind Elementary posts a 9.2 academic score versus Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus's 7.4 — an 1.8-point gap that reflects stronger measured proficiency at Southwind. Compass closes much of that gap through exceptional growth: its 10.0 growth score is a perfect mark, against Southwind's already-strong 9.5, indicating students at Compass advance at a faster-than-expected pace once enrolled.

The two schools differ significantly in size and classroom density. Southwind Elementary enrolls 661 students at a 16.1:1 student-teacher ratio, while Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus serves 254 students at 12.7:1 — giving Compass nearly four fewer students per teacher on average. That smaller, more intimate environment is a structural difference that compounds over a full school year in terms of individual attention.

Structurally, these are different kinds of schools. Southwind Elementary is a traditional public school serving grades PK through 5. Compass Community School Hickory Hill Campus is a charter school with a wider grade band — kindergarten through grade 8 — meaning a family that enrolls at Compass can keep their child in one building through middle school, avoiding a transition at 6th grade. Southwind, by contrast, picks up pre-K students that Compass does not serve at entry.