Summary:
Zip code 30217 is home to just one middle school, Heard County Middle School, which serves grades 6-8 with 456 students in the Franklin, GA area as part of the Heard County district.
Heard County Middle School is a standout performer, having climbed from the 78th percentile in state rankings in 2023-2024 to the 96th percentile in 2025-2026—a jump of 107 positions that earned it a 5-star rating. This improvement is backed by strong test scores across the board. In 2025-2026, the school outperformed state averages by significant margins in every tested subject: 8th grade Social Studies proficiency hit 78.1% versus the state's 40.2%, 8th grade Science reached 59.8% versus 29.7%, and math scores ranged from 58.4% to 75.2% across grades, all well above state averages. The school's 8th grade math score of 75.2% represents a nearly 29-point advantage over the state. Even in 2024-2025, the most recent year with English Language Arts (ELA) data, the school exceeded state averages in 7th and 8th grade ELA, though 6th grade ELA (40.5%) was slightly below the state average (41.3%). ELA results for the current year will be released in December.
What makes these results particularly notable is the school's demographic context: 87.28% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, yet the school still outperforms the state by 16-38 percentage points in all current subjects. The school also maintains a chronic absenteeism rate of 14.3%, better than the state's 17.7%, and operates with a favorable 15.2:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $11,472. Since Heard County Middle School is the only middle school in the district, its scores directly reflect the district's middle school effectiveness. For parents, this school demonstrates that high academic achievement is possible even in economically challenged communities, with particular strengths in Social Studies and Science and consistent math performance across all grade levels.
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