Summary
Journey East Academy is a K-8 school in Memphis-Shelby County Schools serving 376 students in a district ranked near the bottom of Tennessee (137th of 141 districts), yet the school has become a relative bright spot, rising from the 8th percentile statewide in 2020-21 to the 31st percentile (2 stars) in 2025-26.
Across every tested subject, Journey East outperforms its district by a wide margin—math proficiency is 31.9% vs. 22.1% district-wide, ELA is 37.0% vs. 24.6%, science is 38.8% vs. 28.4%, and social studies is 36.5% vs. 28.7%. The middle grades are especially strong: 6th grade math hits 43.1% proficiency (vs. 15.7% district), and 7th grade science reaches 50.0% (vs. 27.6% district). Subgroup results are notable too—African American students perform in the 67th–77th percentile statewide, and low-income students rank in the 69th–84th percentile. Impressively, the school spends just $7,703 per student, roughly half of what nearby schools like Belle Forest Community School ($14,244), Lowrance Elementary/Middle School ($14,708), and Hickory Ridge Elementary School ($16,425) spend, while beating most of them academically. Compared to Lowrance, a similar K-8 school just two miles away, Journey East leads by 15 points in math and 17 points in ELA.
The challenges are clear: Hispanic students rank in the 5th–12th percentile statewide, well below the rest of the school; 3rd and 4th grade math lags behind the district and state; and chronic absenteeism, while improving to 27.5%, remains above the state average of 18.3%. Still, the school's recent rank dip from the 43rd to 31st percentile suggests progress may be stalling. Overall, Journey East is a high-impact, low-cost school doing more with less, with strong results for African American, low-income, and special education students—but with meaningful work ahead in early-grade math, Hispanic student outcomes, and attendance.
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