Summary:
Zip code 37166, covering Smithville, Tennessee, is served by two elementary schools in the DeKalb County Schools district that together educate roughly 1,079 students: Smithville Elementary School serves the youngest learners in grades PK-2, while Northside Elementary School serves grades 2-5, making the pair a natural feeder pipeline rather than competitors.
Because Tennessee's state testing begins in 3rd grade, only Northside has published academic data, making it the academic bellwether for the area. Northside has shown steady improvement, climbing from the 31st to the 40th percentile in state rankings over the last three years, and it now outperforms the state average in English Language Arts with 44.4% proficiency compared to the state's 40.6%. Science proficiency also improved to 39.5%, though it remains about 7 points below the state. Math is the clear weak spot: only 35.4% of students are proficient, and the 3rd grade math gap is especially striking at 28.2% versus the state's 42.6% — a 14-point deficit. Smithville has no test scores in this dataset, so its academic performance cannot be evaluated.
Attendance and spending tell a more positive story for both schools. Northside's chronic absenteeism rate is 12.8% and Smithville's is 13.2%, both well below the district's 15.2% and the state's 18.3%, indicating stable, engaged student bodies. However, the two schools invest differently: Smithville spends $15,257 per student, about $1,869 more than Northside's $13,388, likely reflecting higher costs associated with early-childhood programs. Overall, families in this zip code benefit from a complementary school pairing with strong attendance, improving ELA and science scores at Northside, and a clear area for attention in elementary math.
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