Chattanooga School For The Liberal Arts, 4850 Jersey Pike: grades K-12, 979 students in 2024-25, state letter grade A.
Last checked Oct. 18, 2026. Sources: Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts, Hamilton County Schools, the Tennessee Department of Education’s State Report Card and 2024-25 and 2026 data files, the federal NCES school directory and the TSSAA.
Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) is a Hamilton County Schools magnet school on Jersey Pike that serves kindergarten through 12th grade on one campus. It has no attendance zone: families apply through the district’s School Choice lottery.
- Address: 4850 Jersey Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37416
- Main office: 423-855-2614
- Grades: K to 12
- School hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Website: csla.hcde.org
Who to call
- Front office: 423-855-2614
- Enrolling a new student: the district’s registration page, or the Family Connection Center, 423-843-4799, at 3074 Claude Ramsey Parkway
- Applying: the district’s School Choice page
- Buses: the district’s transportation hotline, 423-498-5555, and its Bus Stop Finder
Principal
Principal Dr. Mary Catherine Gatlin, according to the school’s website. The assistant principals are Kayla Jones (elementary), Emeri Gordon (middle) and Travis Miller (high).
Enrollment
The federal NCES directory counted 923 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 57 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 16 students per teacher. The Tennessee Department of Education’s 2024-25 school profile file has a newer count of 979 students.
State report card
Tennessee grades every public school A to F. The department says School Letter Grades give “a snapshot of how each school in the state is performing, including student achievement and academic growth measures for all schools, as well as a measure of college and career readiness just for high schools.”
From the state’s 2024-25 letter grade file, 2025 graduation rate file and 2024-25 ACT file:
| Measure | Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts |
|---|---|
| Overall letter grade, 2024-25 | A (score 4.9 of 5) |
| Achievement grade | A |
| Academic growth grade | A |
| Growth of the lowest-scoring 25% of students | B |
| College and career readiness grade | A |
| Overall success rate on state tests, 2024-25 | 73.4% |
| College and career readiness rate, 2024-25 | 92.2% |
| Graduation rate, class of 2025 | over 99% |
| Average ACT composite, 2024-25 | 24.2 (51 students tested) |
The state’s spring 2026 test file has the share of Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts students who met or exceeded expectations on each test. On the TCAP achievement tests for grades 3 to 8, social studies 84.6%, science 83.5%, math 79.6% and English language arts 70.9%; and on the high school end-of-course exams, Algebra II 94.4%, English II 88.3%, Biology 83.9%, Geometry 80%, English I 68.5% and Algebra I 56.8%. The 2025-26 letter grades have not been published yet.
The State Report Card page for Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts holds the full detail: results by subject and grade, chronic absenteeism and results for each group of students.
Admission and attendance zone
CSLA has no attendance zone. Hamilton County Schools’ School Choice page says kindergarten admission is by a balanced lottery, “a district-wide lottery with seats proportionally allocated by school board district”; seats in other grades go through the regular choice lottery when they open. The district says the School Choice application period runs each year from Nov. 16 through Jan. 29; seats are filled first from applications received in that window, and a lottery decides when there are more applicants than seats, followed by a waitlist.
Calendar and school hours
Hamilton County Schools’ 2026-27 school calendar (PDF, linked from the district’s calendar page, board-approved May 8, 2025) has these dates next:
- Monday, Oct. 19: second quarter begins
- Friday, Oct. 23: first-quarter report cards
- Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break
- Friday, Dec. 18: second quarter ends
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break
- Jan. 4-5, 2027: professional development days, no school for students
- Monday, Jan. 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Monday, Feb. 15: Presidents Day
- March 22-25: spring break, followed by the Good Friday holiday on Friday, March 26
- Wednesday, May 19, 2027: fourth quarter ends; last day for students
School hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 bell schedule, which lists early dismissal at 12:30 p.m. on half days.
Sports and activities
CSLA’s basketball teams are in the TSSAA’s Class 1A, Region 3, District 5 for 2026-27, with Chattanooga Charter School of Excellence High, Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, Copper Basin and Lookout Valley.
The school’s athletics page lists coaches and sports by season. Wesley Castle is athletic director.
More
- The school’s own site: csla.hcde.org, listed on the district’s School Websites page
- Every public school in town: Chattanooga public schools
- Calendars, enrollment and the school board: our Chattanooga schools guide
- Game nights: Friday night football and the scoreboard
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts serve?
Kindergarten through 12th grade. The main office number is 423-855-2614.
What is Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts’s state report card grade?
Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts received an A overall in Tennessee’s 2024-25 School Letter Grades, according to the Tennessee Department of Education. Its 2025 graduation rate was over 99%.
How do you get into CSLA?
Through Hamilton County Schools’ School Choice application, which runs from Nov. 16 through Jan. 29 each year. Kindergarten seats go by a balanced lottery across school board districts.
What time does Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts start?
School runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 bell schedule.
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