Summary:
Jones County High School is the sole high school in Jones County, serving grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 1,614 students in Gray, Georgia. The school holds a 3-star rating and ranks in the 59th percentile statewide, though its ranking has slipped from 145th to 186th over the past two years.
The most pressing concern is chronic absenteeism, which stands at 38.2% — more than double the state average of 17.7% and well above the district's 23.1%. This likely contributes to the school's declining rank. Academically, performance is mixed. Biology is a relative strength, with 47.2% of students proficient, matching the state average exactly. Algebra I improved from 45.7% to 47.2% proficient, though it remains slightly below the state (48.1%) and notably below the district (55.3%). The weakest areas are humanities: U.S. History proficiency dropped 5 points to 32.2% (state: 38.5%), and American Literature sits at 31.1% (state: 40.4%).
On a positive note, the graduation rate is solid at 86.5%, just 0.7 points below the state average, and the dropout rate of 1.8% is better than the state's 2.4%. The school also benefits from reasonable resources, including $12,099 per-student spending and a 16.3:1 student-teacher ratio. With a relatively low free/reduced lunch rate of 37.73%, the high absenteeism and humanities scores are surprising. For parents, the key takeaway is that while the school maintains strong graduation outcomes and competitive science and math scores, addressing attendance and boosting humanities instruction should be priorities to reverse the recent ranking decline.
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