Elementary Schools in Clayton County

Clayton County is home to 39 elementary schools serving grades Pre-K through 5th grade (with two primary schools serving PK-2 and two elementary schools serving grades 3-5), and nearly every school serves a student body where 100% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, reflecting a highly economically disadvantaged area.

For parents, the standout school in the district is Unidos Dual Language School, which ranks in the 67th percentile statewide—the highest in Clayton County—and posted an extraordinary 87.8% proficiency in 4th-grade math, far exceeding both district and state averages. Kay R Pace Elementary School of the Arts is the second-best performer, ranking in the 50th percentile with the district's lowest chronic absenteeism rate at just 3.0%. On the other end, Church Street Elementary School ranks at the very bottom (2nd percentile), while Lee Street Elementary School and Edmonds Elementary School also struggle significantly, with chronic absenteeism above 37% and proficiency rates in the low single digits for some subjects.

Encouragingly, several schools are showing strong improvement. Kilpatrick Elementary School jumped from the 12th to the 44th percentile in one year, and Roberta T. Smith Elementary School rose to the 32nd percentile. District-wide, math proficiency trails the state by roughly 19-20 points, and chronic absenteeism averages 28.0%—well above the state's 17.7%. The strongest predictor of success appears to be attendance: schools with absenteeism below 10% (like Kay R Pace, Arnold Elementary, and Unidos) all rank in the top half of the district, while those above 30% consistently land in the bottom 10%. Notably, per-student spending shows no clear link to outcomes—Utopian Academy for the Arts spends the most ($37,621 per student) yet ranks in the 6th percentile, proving that how money is used matters more than the amount.