Summary:
In zip code 37030, there is exactly one middle school serving grades 5–8: Smith County Middle School in Carthage, TN, with 289 students enrolled in the Smith County Schools district. This school has shown a remarkable two-year turnaround, climbing from the 40th percentile statewide in 2023–2024 to the 51st percentile in 2024–2025, and then to the 74th percentile in 2025–2026 — a leap of 34 percentile points that now places it in the top quarter of Tennessee middle schools.
Smith County Middle School’s biggest academic strength is mathematics, with 51.4% of all students proficient, beating both the district (47.7%) and the state (43.0%). The advantage is especially large in grades 6–8, where proficiency runs 15–18 points above state averages. Seventh grade stands out across every subject: 75% proficient in Social Studies, 54.1% in ELA, 54.1% in Science, and 54.1% in Math — all well above state levels. The clear area for improvement is English Language Arts, where only 37.1% of students are proficient overall. The weakest result in the entire dataset is 8th grade ELA at 26.1%, nearly 6 points below the state. Science and Social Studies are strong overall (51.4% and 59.0% proficient, respectively), though both trail the district slightly.
Chronic absenteeism at Smith County Middle School is 13.8%, better than the state’s 18.3% but worse than the district’s 10.2%. Per-student spending is $12,297, though no comparison data is available. Free/reduced lunch and student-teacher ratio information is missing for 2024–2025, limiting deeper socioeconomic analysis. Year-over-year test score gains were substantial across all subjects, with Social Studies rising 18.6 points and Math rising 13.4 points. Given this momentum, Smith County Middle School appears to be on a clear upward path, with targeted literacy support in 8th grade and efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism offering the most potential for further gains.
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