Elementary Schools in Evans County

Claxton Elementary School is the only elementary school in Evans County, serving grades PK through 5 with 831 students in a high-poverty area where 100% of students participate in the free/reduced lunch program.

Claxton Elementary has shown meaningful progress over the past three years, climbing from the 5th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 14th percentile in 2025-2026, and earning its first star in the state rating system. The school spends a substantial $17,647 per student and maintains a favorable 11.5:1 student-teacher ratio, yet academic performance remains well below state averages across all subjects. In the most recent testing year, 4th-grade math proficiency reached 37.4% (compared to 50.1% statewide), while 5th-grade math dropped dramatically to just 8.1% proficient—a 29-point gap between these two grade levels. Science performance in 5th grade improved to 25.2% proficient, up from 18.3% the prior year, though still trailing the state average of 44.2%. The school's chronic absenteeism rate of 17.1% is better than the district average of 21.8% and essentially matches the state rate, which is a positive sign given the high-poverty student population.

Parents should note that while the overall trajectory is encouraging, significant challenges remain. The 4th-grade math improvement of 23.5 percentage points year-over-year is remarkable, but the 5th-grade math decline of nearly 17 points is concerning and may indicate cohort-specific issues or inconsistent instructional effectiveness across grade levels. English Language Arts scores from the 2024-2025 school year were extremely low, ranging from 7.8% to 16.7% proficiency across grades, and current-year ELA data has not yet been released. Despite the high per-student spending and small class sizes, the school continues to face substantial achievement gaps that will require sustained, targeted interventions to close.