NCES CCD 2024-25 15 schools TN

Best-Resourced Schools in Cookeville, TN

Compiled from official source data by .

15 public K-12 schools in Cookeville from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
15
Schools
7,959
Students
41.6/100
Avg Resource Index
14.7:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Cookeville has more public-school enrollment than 73% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Cookeville sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

10 of Cookeville's 15 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 29-point gap between T T U Child Development Lab and Cookeville High School shows the range hidden by Cookeville's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 27%
School count
Top 23%
Resource Index average
53rd percentile
Teacher staffing
58th percentile

Cookeville High School accounts for 28.2% of all Cookeville public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Cookeville-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Cookeville school enrollment varies 112× across entities

Cookeville school enrollment ranges from 20 students (lowest) to 2,241 students (highest), a spread of 2,221 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Cookeville student-teacher ratio is 14.7:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Cookeville is typically wider than the Cookeville-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. T T U Child Development Lab 60
2. Algood Middle School 49
3. Dodson Branch Elementary 49
4. Prescott South Middle School 45
5. Prescott South Elementary 43
6. Sycamore Elementary 43
7. Jere Whitson Elementary 41
8. Putnam County Vital 41
9. Park View Elementary 39
10. Northeast Elementary 38
11. Avery Trace Middle School 36
12. Capshaw Elementary 36
13. Cookeville High School 31
14. Cane Creek Elementary 31
15. Putnam Co Adult High School -

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Cookeville

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Avery Trace Middle School 55.4/100
  2. 2 Sycamore Elementary 52.6/100
  3. 3 Jere Whitson Elementary 48.4/100
  4. 4 Putnam Co Adult High School 46.3/100
  5. 5 Cookeville High School 43.8/100

What do families ask about schools in Cookeville?

Which Cookeville school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

T T U Child Development Lab has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Cookeville schools in this federal-data comparison at 60/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Cookeville, TN? ▼

Cookeville has 15 public schools with a total enrollment of 7,959 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 14.7:1.

Other Cities in Tennessee

Memphis
206 schools
Nashville
121 schools
Knoxville
83 schools
Chattanooga
48 schools
Clarksville
39 schools
Murfreesboro
32 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Tennessee →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.