Summary:
There are four elementary schools serving grades PK-5 (with one extending to 8th grade) in Atlanta’s 30314 zip code, a high-poverty area where 100% of students at every school qualify for free or reduced lunch, and all are part of Atlanta Public Schools.
If you’re looking at schools in this area, the standout is F. L. Stanton Elementary School, the smallest school with just 161 students. It has the best state ranking (17th percentile) and is the only school in the group to earn at least one star in every year of available data. It also spends the most per student at $41,200 annually — nearly three times what Kipp WAYS Primary Charter School spends ($13,697). Yet Kipp WAYS posts nearly identical math proficiency (25.9% vs. Stanton’s 24.3%), showing that higher spending doesn’t automatically mean better results. Michael R. Hollis Innovation Academy is the largest school (583 students) and the only PK-8 option, but it has the lowest ranking (4th percentile), the lowest math scores (16.6%), and the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 48.2% — nearly half its students are chronically absent. M. A. Jones Elementary School sits in the middle, with a 12th percentile ranking and math proficiency of 26.1%.
The biggest challenge across all four schools is chronic absenteeism. Every school exceeds the state average of 17.7%, with rates ranging from 31.1% at Kipp WAYS to 48.2% at Hollis Innovation. This likely explains much of the academic struggle, as all schools trail district (44.2%) and state (47.5%) math proficiency averages by wide margins. On a positive note, all four schools have improved their state rankings over the past three years, and there are signs of progress — F. L. Stanton’s 3rd-grade math jumped from 3.8% to 28.6% proficiency in one year. Science is a relative bright spot, with Stanton’s 5th-grade science proficiency at 29.6%, far outpacing its math scores. For parents, the takeaway is that no school in this zip code is performing at district or state levels, but Kipp WAYS offers the most efficient use of resources, while F. L. Stanton shows the most consistent improvement despite its small size.
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