Bearden High, 8352 Kingston Pike: grades 9-12, 1,963 students in 2024-25, state grade A. Office: 865-539-7800.

Last checked Oct. 18, 2026. Sources: beardenhs.knoxschools.org, Knox County Schools, the Tennessee Department of Education’s State Report Card and data files, the NCES school directory and the TSSAA.

Bearden High School is a Knox County Schools high school for grades 9 to 12 at 8352 Kingston Pike in Knoxville. The school is inside Knoxville city limits.

Bearden High opened in 1939, according to its About Us page.

Who to call
Address 8352 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone 865-539-7800
Grades 9 to 12
School day 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
District Knox County Schools
School board district and KCS region District 3, Region 1
Students, 2024-25 (state count) 1,963
State letter grade, 2024-25 A

Principal

Principal Debbie Sayers, according to the school’s About Us page.

Enrollment and teachers

  • State count: 1,963 students in the 2024-25 school year, in the Tennessee Department of Education’s school profile file.
  • Federal count: 2,008 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 114 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 18 students per teacher.

State report card

Tennessee gives most public schools an A-F letter grade. The Department of Education says the grades are meant “to provide a snapshot of how each school performed during the previous academic year,” according to its school letter grades page. The grade combines indicators scored from 1 to 5: student achievement, academic growth, growth of the highest-need students and, for high schools, college and career readiness.

Bearden High earned an A for 2024-25, the latest grades published, with an overall score of 5 out of 5 in the state’s letter grade file.

Indicator Score (1 to 5)
Achievement 5
Growth 5
Growth of highest-need students 5
College and career readiness 5
Overall success rate, all students, 2024-25 tests 50%

Spring 2026 TCAP tests (share of students who met or exceeded expectations, all grades, from the state’s 2026 school assessment file):

Subject Met or exceeded Valid tests
English I 47.4% 437
English II 71.2% 444
Algebra I 20.5% 336
Geometry 51.1% 450
Algebra II 50% 426
Biology 61.1% 447
U.S. history 42.3% 260
  • Graduation rate, class of 2025: 96.2% (459 of 477 students), in the state’s graduation rate file.
  • ACT, 2024-25: average composite score 22; 58.8% of 451 test takers scored 21 or higher, per the state ACT file.

The full report, with chronic absence and results by student group, is on the State Report Card page for Bearden High.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Check any address with the KGIS school zone search, the lookup Knox County Schools sends families to. Zones do not follow city limits. About 28% of the zone’s area lies inside Knoxville city limits, according to our comparison of the district zone map and city limits published on KGIS; most of it is unincorporated Knox County.

From the district’s feeder pattern list, Bearden High draws from Bearden Middle, Cedar Bluff Middle and West Valley Middle, some of them only in part.

Families who want a school outside their zone apply for a transfer. The priority window for the 2027-28 school year opened Oct. 1, 2026, and closes at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2027; a final window runs April 1 to June 1, 2027. Seats depend on space, are assigned by lottery-style numbers within priority groups, and transfer students get no bus service, according to the district’s transfer page.

Calendar and bell times

From the Knox County Schools 2026-27 calendar:

  • Tuesday, Nov. 3: in-service day, no school for students
  • Wednesday, Nov. 18: half day for students
  • Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving holidays, schools closed
  • Friday, Dec. 18: half day; end of the first semester
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; students return Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027
  • March 8-12, 2027: spring break
  • Wednesday, May 26, 2027: last day for students (half day)

Regular days run 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and half days end at noon, according to the district’s school schedules page. The school also has optional early instruction at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Sports and activities

Bearden High plays football in Class 6A, Region 2 for 2026-27, according to the TSSAA’s current alignments, with Bradley Central, Cleveland, Farragut, Hardin Valley Academy, Maryville and Oak Ridge. In basketball it is in Class 4A, District 4, with Farragut, Hardin Valley Academy, Lenoir City, McMinn County, Oak Ridge and Rhea County.

The school’s athletics page lists baseball, boys and girls basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, dance, girls flag football, football, golf, boys and girls lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.

Follow the season on our Friday night football page and the high school scoreboard.

Programs

The school is organized into a Freshman Academy and three career academies: Business, Leadership and Communications; Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Fine Arts; and Health and Human Science and Services, each with its own academy principal, according to the About Us page.

More on Knoxville schools

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Bearden High School serve?

Bearden High serves grades 9 to 12. It is a Knox County Schools campus at 8352 Kingston Pike, Knoxville; the main office number is 865-539-7800.

What is Bearden High’s state letter grade?

Bearden High earned an A in Tennessee’s 2024-25 school letter grades, with an overall score of 5 out of 5, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.

What time does Bearden High start?

The school day runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to the Knox County Schools school schedules page.

What classification is Bearden High in for football?

Bearden High plays in Class 6A, Region 2, in the TSSAA’s 2026-27 football alignment.