High Schools in Bibb County

The six traditional high schools in Bibb County serve grades 9-12 in the Macon, Georgia area, with a combined enrollment of roughly 5,625 students and a district ranking in the bottom 20% of Georgia school systems.

For parents comparing schools, Howard High School stands out as the district's academic leader, posting the highest proficiency rates in Algebra I (23.1%), Biology (38.8%), and US History (28.6%), while also having the lowest poverty rate (48.8% free/reduced lunch) and the smallest class sizes (15.6:1 student-teacher ratio). Central High School is the graduation champion with a 96.5% rate — nearly 10 points above the state average — and the lowest dropout (1.4%) and chronic absenteeism (32.6%) rates in the district, despite mid-pack test scores. Rutland High School showed the most improvement, more than doubling its Algebra I proficiency from 5.9% to 13.3% year-over-year, and now leads the district in US History (33.3%). At the other end, Southwest High School faces the steepest challenges with the highest poverty rate (70.6%), lowest test scores in most subjects, and highest dropout rate (4.6%), though it still manages a 92.9% graduation rate. Westside High School and Northeast High School both struggle with chronic absenteeism above 42% and test scores well below district averages.

The most pressing district-wide issue is chronic absenteeism — every school exceeds 32%, more than double the state average of 17.7%, with Westside approaching half its students chronically absent (47.1%). While all six schools fall significantly below state proficiency averages in every subject, four of six exceed the state graduation rate, and the district average (89.0%) tops the state (87.2%). Notably, higher spending doesn't guarantee better outcomes: Northeast spends the most per student ($15,152) yet ranks near the bottom, while Rutland spends the least ($13,124) and outperforms several schools. Howard is the only school above district averages in all three tested subjects, but even its scores trail the state by 10-25 percentage points, highlighting the systemic achievement gap that persists despite pockets of success.