Summary:
Zip code 39823, serving the Blakely, Georgia area, is home to just one high school, Early County High School, which serves grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 506 students within the Early County school district.
Early County High School serves a predominantly low-income population, with nearly 78% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The school’s most pressing concern is chronic absenteeism, which stands at 34.6%—nearly double the state average of 17.7% and well above the district’s own elevated rate of 24.8%. Academically, proficiency rates on End of Course assessments lag state averages by roughly 20 to 25 percentage points across all subjects. In the most recent testing year, only 23.4% of students were proficient in Algebra I, 25.6% in Biology, and just 13.1% in U.S. History, compared to state averages of 48.1%, 47.2%, and 38.5%, respectively. The school’s state percentile ranking has declined steadily, from the 29th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 14th percentile in 2025-2026.
Despite these academic challenges, there are encouraging signs. The school’s graduation rate of 87.9% exceeds the state average of 87.2%, and its dropout rate of 1.9% is below the state figure of 2.4%. Additionally, Algebra I proficiency improved dramatically from 12.5% to 23.4% year-over-year, and Biology scores inched upward. However, U.S. History proficiency plummeted from 26.9% to 13.1% in a single year, a volatility worth monitoring. With a favorable 13.3:1 student-to-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $14,845, resources appear adequate. The primary levers for improvement likely lie in tackling chronic absenteeism and strengthening instructional effectiveness, particularly in U.S. History, rather than in resource allocation.
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