Summary:
Zip code 37166 (Smithville, TN) contains four public schools serving grades PK through 12, all part of the DeKalb County Schools district, which ranks in the bottom third of Tennessee districts with a 2-star rating. The four schools — De Kalb County High School (grades 9–12, 781 students), Northside Elementary School (grades 2–5, 544 students), DeKalb Middle School (grades 6–8, 534 students), and Smithville Elementary School (grades PK–2, 535 students) — collectively enroll 2,394 students. Every school in the area carries a 2-star rating, but the rankings are gradually improving.
Northside Elementary School stands out as the academic leader in the area. It is the only school in the zip code with ELA proficiency above the state average (44.4% vs. 40.6%), and it also posts the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 12.8% — far better than the district's 15.2% and the state's 18.3%. DeKalb Middle School is the most improved, with gains in every subject from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, including an 8-point jump in Social Studies and a 4.7-point jump in Science. Its 8th grade math and 7th grade Social Studies scores now exceed state averages. De Kalb County High School has the most challenges, including a 23.0% chronic absenteeism rate and a graduation rate of 86.9%, but it also showed dramatic improvement in Algebra I (9.1% to 27.7%) and Biology I (8.3% to 29.1%), and its 10th grade Algebra II scores (73.3%) beat the state average (63.9%).
Absenteeism varies sharply across the same district, from 12.8% at Northside to 23.0% at the high school. There is also a notable literacy drop between elementary and middle school: Northside's ELA proficiency is 44.4%, while DeKalb Middle's is just 26.9%. Smithville Elementary School, which serves PK–2, has no standardized test data but spends the most per student at $15,257. Interestingly, spending does not clearly track performance — DeKalb Middle spends the least ($12,342) yet is improving. While all schools remain below state averages in most subjects, the upward trajectory across all three ranked schools suggests gradual progress for the area.
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