Chattanooga School For The Liberal Arts

Chattanooga · TN · Hamilton County · Public · K-12 combined

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 14% of US high schools

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How Chattanooga School For The Liberal Arts compares for families

What families should know about Chattanooga School For The Liberal Arts.

  • LocallyTN sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: STEM School Chattanooga, Chattanooga Preparatory School, Ivy Academy Inc. and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Get an email when Chattanooga School For The Liberal Arts's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.0%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

46%
admit rate
$13,812
in-state tuition/yr · $33,256 out-of-state
1190–1340
SAT 25–75 · ACT 25–31

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $18,976/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full The University of Tennessee-Knoxville profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

💰 Pay for college in Tennessee

Tennessee's public scholarships

Tennessee pairs a lottery-funded merit award (HOPE) with the well-known TN Promise, which makes community and technical college essentially free for any graduate.

Merit Tennessee HOPE Scholarship (TELS)
$4,500–$5,700/yr (4-yr) · $3,200/yr (2-yr)
GPA: 3.0 weighted GPA Test: OR SAT 1060 / ACT 21 Income: No income limit

Lottery-funded merit award — qualify with EITHER a 3.0 weighted GPA OR ACT 21 / SAT 1060. No income limit. (Qualify by either path; enroll within 16 months of graduating.)

Official program details ↗
Promise Tennessee Promise
Free community / technical college (last-dollar)
Income: No income limit

Tuition-free community or technical college for any TN grad — no GPA, test, or income requirement. (Apply senior year; FAFSA, mentor meeting, 8 hrs community service/term.)

Official program details ↗

Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
0.3%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
3
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
979:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
1.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
40
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment went from 674 in 2021 to 979 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+45.3%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +13.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 979 students:

2025
1,112
2027
1,434
2029
1,850

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $12,078 per student in district revenue, the 871 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $10,519,938/year in additional funding.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
STEM School Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Public 3.7 296 +6.9%
Chattanooga Preparatory School
Chattanooga
Public · charter 6.9 251 +253.5%
Ivy Academy Inc.
Soddy Daisy
Public · charter 9.3 272 +15.7%
Sequoyah High School
Soddy Daisy
Public 9.6 235 +11.4%
Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts
Chattanooga
Public 7.1 404 +9.8%
Hamilton County Collegiate High at Chattanooga State
Chattanooga
Public 3.2 141 -13.0%
Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy
Chattanooga
Public · charter 6.9 154 -13.0%
Tyner Academy
Chattanooga
Public 2.5 632 +23.0%

For Parents

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For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →