West High School, Knoxville: zone, report card and calendar

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

West High School is a Knox County Schools high school for grades 9 to 12 at 3300 Sutherland Ave. in Knoxville. The school is inside Knoxville city limits.

West High has served the community since 1951, according to its About Us page.

Who to call

• Front office: 865-594-4477, 3300 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville, TN 37919
• School website: wesths.knoxschools.org
• Enrolling a new student: enrollment happens at the zoned school; questions go to the Knox County Schools Office of Enrollment and Transfers, 865-594-1502, according to the district’s enrollment page
• Buses: Knox County Schools Transportation, 865-594-1550, or the Daily Bus Report
• District central office: 865-594-1800

Principal

Principal Spencer Long, according to the school’s About Us page.

Enrollment and teachers

• State count: 1,474 students in the 2024-25 school year, in the Tennessee Department of Education’s school profile file.
• Federal count: 1,509 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 88 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 17 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.

West High earned an A for 2024-25, the latest grades published, with an overall score of 4.9 out of 5 in the state’s letter grade file.

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

• Graduation rate, class of 2025: 93.6% (335 of 358 students), in the state’s graduation rate file.
• ACT, 2024-25: average composite score 21; 53.3% of 321 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 West 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 71% 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; the rest is unincorporated Knox County.

From the district’s feeder pattern list, West High draws from Bearden Middle, Northwest 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.

Sports and activities

West High plays football in Class 5A, Region 2 for 2026-27, according to the TSSAA’s current alignments, with Campbell County, Clinton, Karns, Central, Halls, Powell and William Blount. In basketball it is in Class 4A, District 3, with Campbell County, Karns, Central, Halls and Powell.

Team pages are on the school’s athletics page.

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

Programs

West has been an International Baccalaureate World School since 2011 and calls itself “IB for All,” offering the Middle Years Programme to younger students and the Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme to upperclassmen, according to the school. Its administrators include principals for an Academy of Creative and Technical Innovation, an Academy of Global Commerce and Communication and an Academy of Health Science and Human Services.

More on Knoxville schools

• The school’s website and the Knox County Schools list of schools
• Every public school in Knoxville
• Our Knoxville schools guide for enrollment documents, the full calendar and school board meetings

Frequently asked questions

What grades does West High School serve?

West High serves grades 9 to 12. It is a Knox County Schools campus at 3300 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville; the main office number is 865-594-4477.

What is West High’s state letter grade?

West High earned an A in Tennessee’s 2024-25 school letter grades, with an overall score of 4.9 out of 5, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.

What time does West 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 West High in for football?

West High plays in Class 5A, Region 2, in the TSSAA’s 2026-27 football alignment.