Summary:
Zip code 39854, encompassing Georgetown, Georgia, is home to just one elementary school: Quitman County Elementary, a small PK-8 school serving 200 students in the Quitman County district.
For parents, the most striking feature of this school is its combination of high investment and low academic output. The school reports 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility, indicating that every student comes from a low-income household, yet the district spends a substantial $23,217 per student. Despite this funding, proficiency rates lag far behind state averages in nearly every subject and grade. For example, 3rd grade math proficiency is 17.6% versus the state's 48.3%, and 8th grade social studies sits at just 6.7% compared to 40.2% statewide. The one bright spot is 8th grade science, where 26.7% of students are proficient—just 3 points below the state average. The school has also shown meaningful improvement in math over the past year, with 3rd grade jumping from 8% to 17.6% and 5th grade from 10% to 23.5% proficiency, though 6th grade math dropped sharply from 20% to 6.3%.
Attendance is a clear strength: the chronic absenteeism rate is just 1.6%, far below the state average of 17.7%, meaning students are consistently showing up. With a student-teacher ratio of 12.1:1, class sizes are small and personalized. However, the school's state ranking, while improving from the 2nd to the 6th percentile over three years, remains in the bottom tier. Given that each grade cohort averages only about 20 students, year-to-year swings can be dramatic and may not reflect true trends. Ultimately, this school serves a deeply impoverished community with strong attendance and high spending, but academic results suggest that poverty-related challenges and instructional effectiveness—not student engagement—are the primary barriers to higher achievement.
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