Summary:
Fairington Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Lithonia, Georgia, serving grades PK-5 with a student population of 546. The school is part of the DeKalb County School District, which is ranked 136 out of 201 school districts in Georgia and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Fairington Elementary School has a significantly higher percentage of African American students (over 90%) compared to the surrounding schools, which range from 86% to 95% African American students. The school consistently performs well below the DeKalb County and Georgia state averages on the Milestones Assessments for English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. For example, in the 2022-2023 school year, only 7.5% of 3rd graders, 9.3% of 4th graders, and 12.8% of 5th graders were proficient or better in ELA, compared to the DeKalb County averages of 31.7%, 30.2%, and 33.9%, respectively. Fairington Elementary School has consistently ranked in the bottom 10% of Georgia elementary schools, with a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger for the past several years, placing it among the lowest-performing schools in the state. Additionally, the school has an extremely high percentage of students (100%) receiving free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic disadvantage among the student population.
The nearby schools, such as Marbut Elementary, Flat Rock Elementary, and Stoneview Elementary, also have high percentages of African American students and low academic performance compared to the county and state averages, suggesting that the challenges faced by Fairington Elementary School are not unique and may be indicative of broader systemic issues within the DeKalb County school district. However, the data also shows that there are some bright spots, such as the higher-performing Leadership Preparatory Academy, which is located within the same geographic area, indicating that with the right resources, strategies, and support, the academic performance of these schools could potentially be improved.
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