Summary:
The city of Thomson, Georgia, is served by five public schools within the McDuffie County district, which holds a 1-star rating and ranks 149th out of 201 districts in the state. The schools follow a unique grade configuration, with three elementary campuses splitting grades Pre-K through 5th, followed by Thomson-McDuffie Middle School (6th-8th) and Thomson High School (9th-12th).
The standout success story is Thomson-McDuffie Middle School's Algebra I program, where 49.1% of students scored proficient in 2025-2026—more than double the district average (22.7%) and slightly above the state (48.1%). This creates a stark contrast with Thomson High School, where only 13.6% of students passed Algebra I, a 35.5-point gap between the two schools. The high school does post a strong 95.6% graduation rate, exceeding the state average by 8.4 points, and showed positive momentum with Biology proficiency jumping from 27.8% to 38.3%. However, the middle school's general math scores (19.1% to 30.1% proficiency) and 8th-grade Science (8.5%) and Social Studies (11.7%) proficiency rates are alarmingly low—roughly one-quarter to one-third of state averages.
Among the elementary schools, Thomson Elementary School stands out for its 3rd-grade English Language Arts proficiency of 40.5%, which exceeds the state average of 34.9% despite serving a 100% free/reduced lunch population. Norris Elementary School (4th-5th grade) has seen a steady ranking decline from 800th to 970th over two years, while Maxwell Elementary School (Pre-K-1st) has no current test data. Chronic absenteeism escalates sharply with grade level, rising from roughly 14% at the elementary level to 23.5% at middle school and 27.5% at high school—all secondary schools exceed the state average of 17.7%. With 70-100% of students district-wide qualifying for free/reduced lunch, economic disadvantage is a significant factor, though the district's per-student spending ($12,364-$16,189) is relatively high for the results achieved.
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