Summary:
Cirrus Charter Academy is the sole elementary school in the State Specialty Schools II- Cirrus Charter Academy district, serving grades K-8 in Macon, Georgia, with 429 students and a 100% free/reduced lunch population.
This school faces severe academic challenges, ranking in the bottom 1% of Georgia elementary schools for the 2025-2026 school year (1211 out of 1219 schools). Proficiency rates are critically low across every subject: math proficiency ranges from 6% to 8.6% across grades 3-8, science proficiency is just 2% in 5th grade and 8.8% in 8th grade, and 8th grade social studies shows a 0% proficiency rate—meaning no students met standards. These scores trail state averages by 30-40 percentage points in most subjects. The school's ranking has also declined steadily over three years, falling from the 6th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 2nd percentile in 2024-2025, and now to the 1st percentile. Year-over-year data shows dramatic drops in some grades, such as 4th grade math falling from 23.1% to 8.6% proficiency, though small class sizes may amplify these swings.
Despite these struggles, the school has one remarkable strength: a chronic absenteeism rate of just 3.3%, compared to the state average of 17.7%. This means students are consistently showing up to class, providing a strong foundation for improvement. The school also spends $17,110 per student—well above typical levels—yet this investment has not translated into academic gains. The combination of excellent attendance, high spending, and persistently low achievement suggests the challenges are systemic, pointing to issues with instructional quality or curriculum effectiveness rather than student access to school. For parents, this school offers a safe, well-attended environment, but the academic outcomes are concerning and warrant close attention to whether improvement efforts can reverse the current downward trajectory.
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