The top reported proficiency rate is 14% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on State Specialty Schools Ii- Peace Academy Charter School
State Specialty Schools II, operating PEACE Academy Charter School, is a newly founded tuition-free statewide charter serving early elementary grades in southeast metro Atlanta. The school opened in the fall of 2022 and represents a structural addition to Georgia's public school landscape, since it accepts families from anywhere across the state, not just the immediate area.
The defining character of PEACE Academy is its Afrocentric, culturally immersive curriculum. The school is publicly reported as Georgia's only Afrocentric charter school. Students engage in a daily cultural studies course with Afrocentric foundations, monthly essential questions designed for critical thinking, and monthly field trips or community experiences. This is not a general early-elementary program that families choose among many options; it is an explicit pedagogical identity that families either select intentionally or do not.
The student body is predominantly Black, with the remainder Hispanic and multiracial. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or special-education enrollment percentages, and data on English learners and chronic absenteeism were not available. The student enrollment is small, clustered across kindergarten through third grade, with growth spread across those grade bands.
On state assessments administered in early 2025, proficiency in both English language arts and mathematics is very low. In third-grade math, fewer than one in twenty students achieved proficiency. Third-grade ELA proficiency was slightly higher but still single-digit. Fourth-grade results, while also low, show incremental improvement: roughly one in seven students met the standard in math and roughly one in five in ELA. Across both subjects and grades combined, proficiency sits in the bottom quartile among the county's seven districts. The school has only one year of testing data, so trend information is not available; the April 2025 results are the only reported measure of academic attainment.
The school is in active grade expansion, adding one grade level each year on a path toward a full K-8 program. For the 2026-27 school year, the school will enroll students through sixth grade, with a new middle school program opening. For families with multiple children, this timeline matters directly: a kindergartner enrolling now could continue at PEACE through eighth grade rather than transferring mid-way through elementary.
A parent evaluating this school faces a straightforward choice. The Afrocentric cultural curriculum is core to the school's identity and mission; it is not peripheral. If that aligns with what a family is seeking, PEACE Academy offers it as a public, tuition-free option within the state. The current academic proficiency numbers are substantially below grade-level benchmarks, and a parent may want to look into further with the school what instructional changes, resource allocation, or timeline for improvement are underway. The school is also very young, still building out its program and grade band, so the learning environment and results may shift. This is not a settled, multi-year institution with a known track record; it is an emerging charter at an early stage of its development.
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