Ivy Preparatory Academy- Inc, Atlanta GA

Original Research by School Decision on Ivy Preparatory Academy- Inc

Ivy Preparatory Academy is a charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Atlanta, located on Memorial Drive in the southeast part of the city. The school operates under the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia and serves a predominantly Black student body in a neighborhood with substantial economic need.

The enrollment is small for its grade range, with roughly equal distribution across most grades from kindergarten through seventh, and a slightly smaller eighth grade cohort. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the low-income character of the school community. The student body is almost entirely Black, with a small share of Hispanic and multiracial students and no White, Asian, or Native American enrollment.

Academically, the school shows a concerning pattern. State testing results from 2024-25 reveal weak performance across all subjects and grade levels. In English language arts, proficiency begins low in the early elementary grades and improves notably by middle school, where eighth-grade proficiency reaches a level above half of students. Mathematics presents a steeper challenge: proficiency in grades 3 through 7 ranges from roughly one-fifth to one-third of students, then jumps sharply in eighth grade to about half. Science proficiency is similarly weak in grade 5, then improves in eighth grade. Social studies shows the lowest proficiency across the school, at roughly one in five eighth graders. When examined across the district comparison set for DeKalb County, Ivy Preparatory Academy's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile of the county's eight districts, a position that reflects both the school's absolute performance and the competitive context within the district group.

The school identifies itself as single-gender and emphasizes a STREAM curriculum (science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and math), though curriculum documentation was not available to review. The charter was renewed in 2022 for a three-year term with the possibility of a two-year extension contingent on meeting financial benchmarks, a fact parents may want to clarify directly with school leadership regarding the timeline for ongoing operation.

This is a school serving a high-need community with academically vulnerable students. The trajectory across grades suggests the school builds capability as students mature, particularly visible in eighth-grade results, but the majority of students in elementary and early middle grades are not yet meeting state proficiency standards. A parent considering enrollment would want to understand the school's instructional approach to closing these gaps and ask directly about the specific financial performance metrics tied to charter renewal.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 10 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolState Specialty Schools I- Ivy Preparatory Academy- Inc, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.