Best Public Schools in Jesup, GA

The city of Jesup, Georgia, is served by six public schools within the Wayne County school district, which holds a 3-star rating and ranks in the 60th percentile statewide, covering grades PK-12 for a student population of roughly 4,682, with a high level of economic need as four of the six schools report 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility.

For parents, the standout story is in the middle schools. Martha Puckett Middle School is the district's rising star, jumping from the 41st to the 61st percentile in state rankings over two years, and it now holds the highest percentile among all Jesup schools. Its 8th-grade science proficiency (36.2%) beats both the district and state averages, and its Algebra I pass rate is an impressive 91.7%. Meanwhile, Arthur Williams Middle School is the math powerhouse, with a perfect 100% proficiency rate on the Algebra I End of Course exam—more than double the state average—though it struggles in 8th-grade science (18.9% vs. Martha Puckett's 36.2%). At the elementary level, Bacon Elementary School is the consistent improver, reaching the 50th percentile and earning the district's only 3-star elementary rating, with 3rd and 4th-grade math proficiency nearly matching state averages. Jesup Elementary School and Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School lag behind, with the latter having the lowest state ranking (37th percentile) despite the highest per-student spending ($14,693) and best student-teacher ratio (12.0).

At the high school level, Wayne County High School presents a mixed picture: it excels at keeping students on track with a graduation rate of 89.6% (above the state's 87.2%) and a dropout rate of just 0.8% (vs. 2.4% statewide), and it beats state averages in Biology and US History. However, its Algebra I proficiency (22.1%) is less than half the state average, and chronic absenteeism (26.3%) is a concern. District-wide, chronic absenteeism is a challenge—four of six schools exceed the state rate of 17.7%, with Martha Puckett Middle highest at 28.6%. A key takeaway is that spending doesn't correlate with performance, and the district's pockets of excellence, particularly in middle school math, suggest strategies that could be shared across schools to address persistent weaknesses like 5th-grade math and high school Algebra I.