Valdosta City

The Valdosta City school district includes 8 schools—5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 1 high school—serving approximately 8,247 students in a predominantly economically disadvantaged area, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from 81% to 100% and chronic absenteeism well above the state average.

For parents, the standout school in this district is Valdosta Middle School, which dramatically outperforms its peers in advanced coursework: 83.9% of its students pass Algebra I (more than triple the district average of 24.1%) and 77.1% pass HS Physical Science, both exceeding state averages. This school also improved its Algebra I proficiency by over 20 points in one year. Among elementary schools, Sallas Mahone Elementary leads with the highest math proficiency rates across 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, the lowest chronic absenteeism (19.6%), and the lowest poverty rate in the district. Valdosta High School stands out for its graduation rate of 92.9%, which exceeds the state average of 87.2%, despite its test scores lagging state averages and a chronic absenteeism rate of 31.7%.

District-wide, academic performance trails state averages by roughly 15-24 percentage points across nearly all subjects, with the largest gaps in mathematics and science. Science is a particular weakness—8th grade science proficiency is below 13% at both middle schools, compared to the state's 29.7%. Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide concern, with every school exceeding the state average of 17.7%; Newbern Middle School (30.9%) and Valdosta High School (31.7%) are the worst. There are encouraging signs, however: W.G. Nunn Elementary and J.L. Lomax Elementary both showed double-digit gains in 3rd grade math, and Pinevale Elementary improved its 3rd and 4th grade math scores—though its 5th grade math collapsed from 18.1% to 3.1%. The district ranks in the bottom 15% of Georgia districts, but several schools improved their state rankings year-over-year, suggesting targeted interventions may be taking hold.