Summary:
ZIP code 37938 contains exactly one high school: Halls High School, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, serving grades 9–12 with an enrollment of 1,236 students. The school is part of Knox County Schools, a district ranked 78th out of 141 districts in Tennessee. Halls High has maintained a 2-star rating for three consecutive years, though its state percentile rank has slipped from the 47th to the 43rd percentile between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026.
Halls High graduates 88.3% of its students, slightly below the state average of 90.5%, yet its dropout rate of 5.5% is actually better than both the district and state rates of 6.7%. Chronic absenteeism is the most pressing concern: 26.8% of students are chronically absent compared to 18.3% statewide — a gap of 8.5 points. The school spends $12,421 per student. This combination of below-average graduation rates, above-average dropout performance, and high absenteeism suggests students may be staying enrolled but not graduating on time, potentially due to credit deficiencies or extended timelines.
Academically, Halls High shows a striking imbalance. Science is a standout strength: Biology I proficiency is 75.6%, dramatically above the state average of 49.8%, and US History and English I also exceed state levels. Math is the school's greatest weakness — Algebra I proficiency is just 11.8% versus 32.3% statewide, with Geometry and Algebra II also lagging. However, advanced students perform exceptionally well: 9th-grade Geometry proficiency is 91.8%, and 10th-grade Algebra II is 75.3%. This suggests Halls accelerates its strongest math students while students in standard on-grade math courses struggle significantly. Biology I proficiency also jumped an extraordinary 42.6 percentage points year-over-year, a shift worth monitoring to determine whether it reflects improved instruction or changing course enrollment patterns.
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