Summary:
Thomasville City Schools includes two elementary schools, Thomasville Primary (PK–3) and Liberty Drive Elementary (4–5), serving a combined 1,059 students in a high-poverty area where about 99% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. These two schools function as a single elementary pipeline rather than competing schools, making the state average the most meaningful benchmark. The district ranks in the 5th percentile statewide, but there are notable differences in performance and trends between the two schools.
Thomasville Primary is a clear bright spot, especially in 3rd grade math, where 64% of students are proficient—within about 2 points of the state average. The school also made striking gains in 3rd grade reading, jumping from 21.4% to 36.6% proficiency in one year. Reading remains a challenge, however, as fewer than 4 in 10 third graders are proficient. In contrast, Liberty Drive Elementary has declined each of the past three years, falling from the 16th to the 6th percentile statewide. Its most urgent issue is 5th grade reading, at just 28.7% proficiency—26.6 points below the state average—and it also trails the state by about 20 points in 4th and 5th grade math and 5th grade science.
Across both schools, math is a relative strength compared with reading, but upper-grade performance lags behind the progress seen in early grades. Chronic absenteeism is high at both schools—35.5% at Thomasville Primary and 30.1% at Liberty Drive, compared with the state rate of 24.2%—and likely an important barrier to achievement. Interestingly, Liberty Drive spends slightly more per student ($11,739 vs. $11,267) and has a lower student–teacher ratio, yet its outcomes and state rank have not improved. Thomasville Primary, meanwhile, appears to be on a positive trajectory that, if sustained, could make it a notable turnaround story within a district that still has significant ground to make up in reading, science, and upper-grade math.
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