Hamilton County high school graduation rate surpasses state for the second year in a row

Hamilton County public high school students graduated on time at the highest rate in at least a decade this past school year.

In Hamilton County, 94.2% of high school students graduated in four years in 2025, a 1 percentage-point increase compared to the class of 2024, according to new data from the Tennessee Department of Education. This marks the second year in a row when the district’s graduation rate exceeded 90% and surpassed the statewide rate.

“It is something we are incredibly proud of,” Chief Strategy Officer Shannon Moody said. “I feel like I can’t state that enough. … Knowing that that’s one of those critical markers for a student beyond their time in high school and knowing the importance of this metric to us and all the work that goes into really making sure that students have all the opportunities to stay on track and graduate, seeing it at 94% is fantastic.”

Statewide, the graduation rate hit 92.3%, narrowly breaking the Tennessee record set a year ago.

(READ MORE: Increasing wages is a top priority for Hamilton County Schools’ next budget)

The majority of county high schools graduated students at a higher rate than the state average, and 15 schools graduated more than 95% of their students on time. County students also graduated at a higher rate than their peers across the state across almost every demographic group.

The graduation rate improvement came from across the county, with almost all demographic groups in the class of 2025 graduating at a higher rate than the year before. Gaps continue to persist between student groups, but they are closing.

In 2021, 78.7% of economically disadvantaged students graduated on time, a rate more than 11 percentage points lower than their classmates who were not economically disadvantaged. By 2025, that gap had narrowed to roughly 4 percentage points — 91.9% to 95.8%.

During that same time period, the gap in graduation rates for Black, Hispanic and Native American students compared to white students decreased from 6.7 to 2.1 percentage points.

“Achievement gaps do still exist,” Moody said in a video interview. “There are still barriers, and so we talk about it a lot in our strategic plan that we know there are barriers for students and our community articulated to us, right? It’s a community responsibility to reduce barriers, and so we’re constantly thinking about our role in that, which is a big role.”

That includes ensuring initiatives reach all students, not just some, she said, as well as working with outside groups to look into and address the underlying pieces that are causing these discrepancies.

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This past school year, students in foster care or experiencing homelessness graduated on time at the lowest rate.

Students experiencing homelessness had a graduation rate of 87.6%, which is a 0.7 percentage-point decrease compared to the year before, though it surpasses the statewide rate. It was the one area where the county’s graduation rate fell compared to the prior year.

This is one of the data pieces that points to why the community is thinking more intentionally about supporting students experiencing homelessness, Moody said. Earlier this year, the Hamilton County Children’s Cabinet, a group of leaders from government agencies and community partners that serve children and families, launched a pilot program that aims to provide housing and case management for every family identified as homeless by the school district.

Throughout the rest of Southeast Tennessee, every school district had a graduation rate above 90% with five school districts — Bradley County, Franklin County, McMinn County, Meigs County and Tullahoma City — exceeding 95%. Bradley County Schools had the highest graduation rate in the region at 98.1%, while Polk County Schools saw the largest change. Its 94.8% graduation rate marked a 6-percentage-point increase compared to the year before.

Contact education reporter Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.