The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Social studies. The lowest is 25% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Calhoun County Elementary School
Calhoun County Elementary School is a small public school serving grades pre-K through five in Edison, a rural city in southwest Georgia's Calhoun County. The enrollment is small, with roughly equal numbers of students across most grades. The school serves a community under significant economic pressure: a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school's population is predominantly Black.
The most recent state testing data shows persistent academic challenges across math and English language arts. In third grade, proficiency in math and reading both fall well below a quarter of students. Fourth grade shows some improvement in both subjects, though still low overall. Fifth grade remains at roughly a quarter proficient in both math and reading. Science proficiency in fifth grade is measurably stronger, at about six in ten students meeting the standard, suggesting the school has relative strength in that subject area. An older social studies assessment from a different test also showed higher proficiency in that content area.
In the county comparison, the school ranks in the top quartile for overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades, which reflects the academic position of the other district school. This positioning does not indicate strong absolute performance; rather, it indicates where the school sits relative to its immediate neighbors in Calhoun County.
The school sits on a campus outside Edison's small historic downtown, about a mile from the city center. Edison itself is a place in demographic and economic decline, with a shrinking population and a heavily agricultural surrounding county. Most residents rent their homes. The housing values in the area are modest, and a substantial share of families live below the poverty line. The school district's 2025 decision to opt out of Georgia's new homestead property tax freeze means that homeowners' school tax bills will not be capped to inflation but rather will continue to rise with reassessed property values; the district made this choice to preserve its tax base in a small, rural jurisdiction where an alternative approach could have forced higher tax rates that would burden non-homestead property owners more heavily.
Testing data for special education and English learner populations was not available. No information about staff size, attendance rates, or discipline practices was provided. A parent may want to look into the school's specific academic support strategies and the resources devoted to early-grades literacy and numeracy, given the low proficiency rates in those foundational subjects.
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