Rocky Creek Charter Academy

Rocky Creek Charter Academy is a small K-8 charter school in Augusta, GA, serving just 47 students under the State Specialty Schools II- Rocky Creek Charter Academy district, and it stands out as a notable academic bright spot in an area where most nearby schools face significant challenges.

Despite its modest size, Rocky Creek delivers impressive results in early elementary math. In 3rd grade, 50% of students scored proficient or above—more than double the local district average and slightly above the state average of 48.3%. This far outpaces nearby schools like Barton Chapel Elementary School (6.1%) and Bayvale Elementary School (19.6%). The pattern continues in 4th grade math, where Rocky Creek's 37.6% proficiency rate leads the comparison group by a wide margin—Glenn Hills Elementary School posted just 1.7%. The school also maintains a remarkably low student-teacher ratio of 6.7:1, less than half of what neighboring schools report, and spends the most per student in the area at $18,985 annually. This intensive, personalized environment likely explains why the school outperforms all nine nearby schools in overall ranking, even though its 1-star rating places it in the 28th percentile statewide.

However, there are areas for growth. Proficiency declines as students advance—math drops from 50% in 3rd grade to 37.6% in 4th grade and 15% in 6th grade, while 5th grade science sits at 13.4%, below the state average of 44.2%. Chronic absenteeism, at 22.2%, is the best among nearby schools (which range from 28.2% to 41.6%) but still exceeds the state average of 17.7%. With such a small enrollment, individual student performance can swing school-wide statistics significantly from year to year. Note that current English Language Arts scores are not yet available, as Georgia releases those results in December. Overall, Rocky Creek offers a compelling small-school model that builds strong early foundations, though sustaining that momentum through middle grades remains its key challenge.