DeKalb Alternative School

DeKalb Alternative School is a public alternative school located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, serving grades 3-12 with a total enrollment of 149 students. It is part of the DeKalb County School District, which is ranked 138 out of 203 school districts in Georgia and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.

DeKalb Alternative School faces significant challenges in serving its high-poverty, high-needs student population. The school has had very low four-year graduation rates, ranging from 0% to 24.5% over the past 5 years, which is significantly lower than the state average of around 83% and the DeKalb County average of around 75%. Students at DeKalb Alternative also perform poorly on the Georgia Milestones assessments, with only 6.5% of students proficient or better in American Literature and Composition, compared to 42% statewide. The school has an extremely high percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 98.73% to 100% over the past 3 years, and spends significantly more per student, around $36,000 per year, compared to the state average of around $12,000 per student.

Comparisons to nearby schools highlight both the unique challenges and potential opportunities for improving outcomes at DeKalb Alternative School. The school is located very close to the East DeKalb Special Education Center, another alternative school in the district, which has somewhat better test scores and a higher student-teacher ratio. The nearby Atlanta Classical Academy, a public charter school, vastly outperforms DeKalb Alternative School and the DeKalb County district on test scores, suggesting the potential for alternative school models to achieve much stronger academic outcomes. The Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, a state-run school, serves a unique population of students and has very low test scores, similar to DeKalb Alternative, highlighting the difficulties of providing a quality education in specialized school settings.