Bells City Schools

Bells City Schools is a small, elementary-only district in Tennessee consisting of a single school, Bells Elementary School, which serves grades PK–5 with 407 students. Because there is only one school, it represents the entire district, and all findings focus on this campus.

Bells Elementary has seen a sharp decline in its state ranking, falling from a 4-star school in the 72nd percentile (2023-2024) to a 2-star school in the 47th percentile (2025-2026). Overall, the school is slightly below the state average in math (-1.9 points) and science (-3.5 points), but slightly above in ELA (+1.1 points). The most striking pattern is a clear grade-level split: 4th graders outperform Tennessee averages in all three subjects, with math proficiency at 57.8% versus 49.4% statewide, while 5th graders lag significantly, especially in science (29.2% vs. 46.5%) and math (33.3% vs. 47.4%). This suggests a strong 4th-grade cohort or teaching team, but also points to a challenging transition or instructional issue in 5th grade.

Math is the biggest area of concern, as proficiency plummeted from 57.9% in 2024-2025 to 41.1% in 2025-2026—a drop of 16.8 percentage points that reversed a prior 15.7-point advantage over the state. On a positive note, chronic absenteeism is remarkably low: the district rate is 3.7% versus the state average of 18.3%, and the school reported just 9.5% in 2022-2023. However, important data gaps remain, including free/reduced lunch percentage and student-teacher ratio, making it hard to assess the role of poverty or class size. Overall, Bells Elementary is a small school with a strong 4th grade and a concerning 5th grade; targeted support in 5th-grade math and science could help reverse the recent decline and rebuild its former star rating.