Southside Elementary School

Southside Elementary School is a public elementary school serving grades PK-5 in Cairo, Georgia, with 512 students. The school is part of the Grady County School District, which is ranked 97 out of 206 districts in the state and has a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger. However, Southside Elementary has consistently been ranked in the bottom half of Georgia elementary schools over the past decade, with a current ranking of 836 out of 1,238 schools and a 2-star rating.

One of the key factors that differentiates Southside Elementary is its academic performance. The school consistently underperforms compared to the Grady County and Georgia state averages on the Milestones Assessments for English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. For example, in 2024-2025, only 17.6% of 3rd graders, 15.1% of 4th graders, and 38% of 5th graders were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 27.8%, 28.2%, and 33.8% for Grady County, and 34.9%, 39.3%, and 43% for the state. Additionally, Southside Elementary has extremely high rates of free and reduced-price lunch recipients, ranging from 95.51% to 100% over the past few years, which is significantly higher than the nearby schools in the Grady County district.

While Southside Elementary spends between $8,692 and $8,855 per student, which is slightly lower than the state average but in line with the other Grady County schools, it has a relatively low student-teacher ratio, ranging from 11.9 to 13.2 over the past few years, which is better than the nearby schools. This suggests that factors beyond just student demographics, such as school leadership, teacher quality, and instructional practices, may be contributing to the differences in performance between Southside Elementary and the higher-performing schools in the area, like Shiver Elementary and Whigham Elementary.