Barnett Shoals Elementary School, Athens GA

Original Research by School Decision on Barnett Shoals Elementary School

Barnett Shoals Elementary is a school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Athens, with a student body that reflects deep economic need and significant diversity. About nine in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that shapes the school's mission and resource allocation. Enrollment sits at a moderate size for an elementary school of this grade band.

The racial composition is roughly evenly split between Black students (a bit under half the enrollment) and white students (about a third), with a smaller Hispanic population and students identifying as multiracial or Asian. This diversity is a characteristic of the school itself and of Athens as a college town with migration and international family presence tied to the University of Georgia.

Academic proficiency on Georgia's end-of-grade assessments is low across the board. In math, students in third grade are proficient at a rate below the midpoint, fourth grade marginally below half, and fifth grade well below half. In English language arts, proficiency rates run from just under one in three in third grade to just under two in five in fourth grade, with fifth grade again lower. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits below four in ten. These are not isolated weak spots. They form a consistent picture: the school is struggling to move students to proficiency in reading, math, and science across its tested grades. A parent should ask the school directly what interventions are in place, what the school identifies as barriers, and what measurable progress targets the school has set for the year ahead.

The data provided does not include information about the school's graduation rate, attendance, staffing, discipline, or special education and English learner populations. Because Barnett Shoals is an elementary school serving only through fifth grade, a graduation rate does not apply. On other measures, either the data was not available or the school did not report it, so a parent may want to look into those specifics with the school directly.

Clarke County as a district undertook a significant pedagogical shift in 2023, moving K-3 literacy instruction to an explicit phonics and phonemic awareness model aligned with science of reading. This change affects Barnett Shoals directly. At the same time, Clarke County voters opted out of Georgia's statewide homestead exemption in early 2025, meaning property taxes on homesteaded properties in the district are not capped by inflation, a factor that shapes tax burden for families buying homes in the attendance zone.

The Athens area is experiencing active growth, with new residential construction, mixed-use development, and job announcements reshaping the local landscape. Housing values in the Athens area have appreciated modestly, and rents are climbing. For a family considering the Barnett Shoals area, the school's current academic performance is the central consideration: proficiency is significantly below what families might expect, and any parent enrolling a student here should understand that and plan accordingly with the school around support and goals.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 38% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 31% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 27% · ▲ 4 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 28% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 28% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 29% · ▲ 10 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Social studies

Grades 3-881%

School 81% · district not reported

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolClarke 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.