Susie King Taylor Community School, Savannah GA

Original Research by School Decision on Susie King Taylor Community School

Susie King Taylor Community School is a charter public school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in central Savannah, positioned in a dense downtown neighborhood near Bull Street. The school enrolls a small to mid-sized group of students, most of whom (well over four-fifths) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of white, multiracial, and Hispanic students; no Asian or Native Hawaiian students are enrolled.

Academic proficiency across the school is low across all tested subjects. In mathematics, proficiency rates range from single digits in sixth grade up to roughly a quarter of students in third and fourth grades. English language arts shows somewhat more stability, with a minority of students reaching proficiency in most grades, though performance dips significantly in fourth grade before recovering somewhat in eighth grade. Science proficiency in the grades tested is similarly modest, and a social studies assessment in eighth grade had too few test-takers for the state to report a proficiency rate. The school has only one year of state testing data available, so trends cannot yet be measured.

The school operates as a charter within the Savannah-Chatham County public school system at a time of substantial district change. A recently approved capital referendum is funding major facility upgrades across the district, including a new high school and school complex in western Chatham County and rebuilds or renovations of several existing buildings. The district has also implemented a district-wide shift to Science of Reading instruction in elementary and secondary classrooms, moving away from older three-cueing methods and requiring all primary teachers to complete formal training. A long-range facilities plan has realigned school attendance zones to accommodate rapid growth in western areas of the county, though these changes have primarily affected schools in Pooler, Bloomingdale, and Port Wentworth rather than central Savannah.

The surrounding neighborhood is part of Savannah's historic downtown district, an unusually walkable and mixed-use urban environment centered on public squares, the waterfront, and Forsyth Park. The area draws tourism and cultural activity. The broader Savannah economy is in a growth phase driven by aerospace manufacturing (Gulfstream), port logistics, military installations, and new automotive investment. The housing market in the zip code is moderately valued relative to state and national benchmarks and has softened slightly in recent months, while rents are affordable relative to local income. A parent considering this school may want to look further into what the school's particular instructional approach and charter model bring to the proficiency picture, and what additional support services or interventions are in place to raise achievement in math, which is a particular area of concern.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 34% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 42% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 29% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 20% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 25% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 28% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 26% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 32% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 29% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 30% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 28% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 35% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 17% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolSavannah-Chatham County, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grades 3-8Lower-income20%Higher-income50%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grades 3-8Lower-income16%Higher-income43%27 pp gap