Summary:
Zip code 30329 is home to just one elementary school, Montclair Elementary School, which serves grades PK through 5 and is part of the DeKalb County school district.
Montclair Elementary is a high-poverty school, with 83.56% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, and it faces significant academic challenges. The school ranks in the bottom 6% of Georgia elementary schools, though it has shown slight improvement, moving from the 4th percentile in 2024-2025 to the 6th percentile in 2025-2026. Proficiency rates across all subjects trail both district and state averages substantially. In 5th-grade science, only 8.9% of students are proficient compared to 44.2% statewide—a gap of over 35 percentage points. Math proficiency ranges from 26.9% in 3rd grade down to 20.5% in 5th grade, while the most recent ELA scores (from 2024-2025) show proficiency between 10.8% and 16.7% across grades. There is also a concerning downward trend in math as students advance, suggesting cumulative learning gaps.
Despite these academic struggles, Montclair has some notable strengths. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 16.4% is well below the DeKalb County district average of 26.7% and slightly better than the state average of 17.7%, indicating strong family engagement in attendance. The school also maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.3:1 and spends $19,749 per student—significantly higher than typical Georgia schools. This combination of high spending and low outcomes raises questions about resource allocation, but the school's modest improvement in state ranking and early-grade math scores may signal early positive momentum. For parents, Montclair offers a supportive attendance environment and small class sizes, but the school clearly needs targeted intervention, particularly in science and upper-grade mathematics, to close the substantial achievement gaps.
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