Red Boiling Springs School

Red Boiling Springs School is a small combined school serving grades 6–12 in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, with 328 students enrolled as part of Macon County Schools. The school currently holds a 1-star rating, ranking 308th out of 400 Tennessee high schools in the 2025–2026 school year (23rd percentile), continuing a pattern of 1-star rankings that began after a stronger 2020–2021 year.

Academically, the school trails both its district and the state in every tested subject. All-grades math proficiency was 27.5% in 2025–2026, compared with 45.2% for Macon County Schools and 43% statewide, while English Language Arts proficiency sat at 28.2% versus 39% and 40.6%, respectively. The gaps are especially wide in early high school courses: Algebra I proficiency was 13.6%, Algebra II 16.2%, and English I 18.6%, all far below state averages. English II was the relative bright spot at 47.6% proficiency. On a positive note, the graduation rate jumped from 81.1% in 2023–2024 to 97.1% in 2024–2025, and chronic absenteeism fell to 12.0%, below the state average of 18.3% though above the district's 7.8%.

Comparisons with nearby schools highlight some challenges. Macon County High School, just 8.5 miles away in the same district, ranked 187th in Tennessee (3 stars) and outperformed Red Boiling Springs School in every comparable subject—Algebra II proficiency, for example, was 59.3% there versus 16.2% at Red Boiling Springs. The school also spends more per student ($14,962) than Macon County High School ($11,596), Clay County High School ($12,945), and Jackson County High School ($13,344) while getting weaker academic results. Since Red Boiling Springs serves grades 6–12, its middle school scores also factor in—8th grade English Language Arts proficiency was just 13.3% versus 32.3% statewide—indicating the challenges span both middle and high school levels.