Summary:
Zip code 38059 covers Newbern, Tennessee, and serves approximately 2,024 students across three public schools in the Dyer County Schools district, which ranks 19th out of 141 districts in Tennessee: Dyer County High School (grades 9–12), Newbern Elementary School (PK–5), and Northview Middle School (grades 6–8).
Northview Middle School is the academic leader of the area, earning a 4-star rating and ranking in the 79th percentile among Tennessee middle schools. It beats state averages in math (53.5% vs. 43%), science (52.5% vs. 46.9%), and social studies (61.1% vs. 51.4%), with chronic absenteeism of just 8.7% — less than half the state rate. Dyer County High School is a graduation powerhouse with a 97.7% graduation rate and 2.3% dropout rate, far better than state averages. It shines in Biology I and Geometry but trails the state in English I (31% vs. 37.3%) and US History (36.9% vs. 42.4%). Its overall ranking slipped from the 85th to the 76th percentile in recent years, though it remains a solid 4-star school.
The main concern is Newbern Elementary School, which has declined from 3 stars to 2 stars and fallen from the 66th to the 45th percentile since 2023-2024. All tested subjects dropped year-over-year, with ELA suffering the steepest decline. Because Newbern feeds into Northview Middle, this downward trend could eventually affect the middle school's strong results. Notably, per-pupil spending is nearly identical across all three schools (about $13,100 each), so performance gaps are not funding-related. The bright spot across the zip code is attendance: all three schools are below Tennessee's 18.3% chronic absenteeism average, and Dyer County High's 15.4% rate is the highest of the group — still better than the state. The district's top priority should be reversing Newbern Elementary's decline, particularly in ELA and science.
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