Summary:
Zip code 37082 is served by a single middle school: Harpeth Middle School in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, part of Cheatham County Schools. This one school covers grades 5 through 8 and enrolls 432 students, so it represents the entire middle school experience for families in this area.
Harpeth Middle School is a mixed picture, with clear bright spots in early grades but a worrying slide by 8th grade. The school’s 5th graders outperform state averages in every tested subject—math, English language arts, and science—showing a strong start. However, performance drops sharply as students move up. In 8th grade, only 16.3% of students are proficient in math and 20.8% in ELA, far below the state averages of 38.3% and 32.3%. This means the same group of students who start above average in 5th grade end up well behind by 8th grade, a decline of about 35 percentage points in math and 32 points in ELA. The school’s overall state rank has also fallen from the 46th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 31st percentile in 2025–2026, even though ELA and science improved last year.
One of the most notable findings is the Algebra I “paradox.” The school boasts a 53.8% proficiency rate in Algebra I, well above district and state averages, but this is likely because only advanced 8th graders take that test. Those same students still lag behind advanced peers elsewhere—the district’s 8th grade Algebra I proficiency is 76.1% and the state’s is 88.3%. Social studies is the school’s consistent weak spot, with all grades combined at 38.2% proficiency versus 51.4% statewide. On the positive side, chronic absenteeism is just 11.1%, much lower than the district’s 14.9% and the state’s 18.3%, and per-student spending is $11,831—yet outcomes remain below average. For parents, the takeaway is that Harpeth Middle has a strong 5th grade foundation but struggles to maintain momentum, especially in 7th and 8th grade math and ELA, and would benefit from targeted support in the upper grades.
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