CMCSS earned Tennessee's top growth rating for a third year, and 24 schools hit Level 5. Students beat the state average in all four tested subjects.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System earned Tennessee’s highest growth rating for the third year in a row. The district released its 2025-26 state testing results Thursday, after the state lifted its embargo on the data.
CMCSS scored Level 5, the top of the state’s five-level scale, on its district composite in the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System, known as TVAAS. The district said it is only the second time it has held Level 5 for three straight years. The first run ended in 2016. The figures are in the district’s Nov. 12 release.
TVAAS measures growth: how much students progressed over the year against what the state expected of them. It is separate from proficiency, the share of students who scored on track or better.
24 schools reach Level 5
Twenty-four CMCSS schools earned a Level 5 composite growth score this year. That is up from 17 schools in 2024-25 and two in 2020-21, the district said.
Other records the district reported:
- 95.2% of schools met or beat the state’s growth expectations, scoring Level 3, 4 or 5. The previous record was 91.7% in 2014-15.
- No school scored Level 1, the lowest growth level, for the first time in district history.
- Every middle and high school met or beat growth expectations, also a first.
- Middle and high schools posted a combined mean growth score of 4.65, a district record. The old mark was 4.27 in 2014-15.
- Six schools climbed from Level 1 in 2024-25 to Level 5 this year, and 31% of schools improved by two levels or more.
The district’s mean school score was 4.21, just under the 2014-15 record of 4.28.
“As I visit schools each week, I see the incredible teaching and learning occurring across the district, so I know these sustained improvements in our data reflect hard work, not luck,” said Jean Luna-Vedder, the director of schools.
The Level 5 schools
| Elementary | Middle | High |
|---|---|---|
| Barkers Mill | Kirkwood | Clarksville High |
| Barksdale | Montgomery Central | Kenwood |
| Byrns Darden | New Providence | Kirkwood |
| Carmel | Northeast | Middle College at APSU |
| Cumberland Heights | West Creek | Montgomery Central |
| East Montgomery | Northeast | |
| Kirkwood | Northwest | |
| Norman Smith | Rossview | |
| Pisgah | ||
| Sango | ||
| West Creek |
Above the state average in every subject
CMCSS students also scored above the Tennessee average on proficiency in all four tested subjects, according to the district’s comparison:
| Subject | CMCSS | State average |
|---|---|---|
| English language arts | 44.1% | 42.3% |
| Math | 41.4% | 40.9% |
| Science | 54.5% | 47.3% |
| Social studies | 58.9% | 50.0% |
The widest gaps were in social studies, 8.9 points above the state, and science, 7.2 points above. In math, the district was half a point ahead.
Over four years, the district said its biggest proficiency gain came in geometry, up 26.2 points since 2022. Algebra I rose 17 points and Algebra II 16.4 points. English I was the one tested area to slip, down 0.9 points.
In TVAAS, the district’s numeracy growth score jumped from Level 1 in 2023-24 to Level 5 this year. Science and social studies held at Level 5. Literacy rose from Level 3 to Level 4.
What it means for you
- If your child attends one of the 24 schools above, the school’s students grew faster in 2025-26 than the state expected.
- Growth and proficiency are different measures. A Level 5 school can still have fewer than half its students scoring proficient. Ask your school for its own proficiency figures.
- More is coming. The Tennessee Department of Education will release school and district designations and the state’s A-to-F report card letter grades “over the coming weeks,” the district said.
- Individual student score reports come from your child’s school.
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