Hilsman Middle School, Athens GA

Original Research by School Decision on Hilsman Middle School

Hilsman Middle School serves about six hundred students across grades six through eight in Athens, Georgia. The school draws overwhelmingly from low-income families—a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is majority Black, with meaningful Hispanic and white enrollment and a small Asian population. The school sits in Clarke County's public district, where voters recently rejected a statewide property-tax cap despite approving it locally, meaning families here will see larger annual tax increases tied to school funding than comparable families in districts that opted in.

On state assessments, Hilsman's proficiency rates are low across tested subjects and grade levels. Sixth-grade math proficiency sits in the single digits, and sixth-grade English language arts is under a third proficient. Performance improves modestly by eighth grade, with math and ELA reaching the low thirties, science around that range, and social studies in the mid-twenties, but these remain well below the state benchmark across all subjects. The pattern shows consistent struggle across the curriculum with no subject area of relative strength. A parent may want to look into further with the school what instructional changes are underway and what support the school offers to students working below grade level.

Clarke County has rolled out a science-of-reading literacy curriculum across K-3 beginning in 2023, grounded in explicit phonics and phonemic awareness rather than leveled-reading approaches. That systemic shift touches early readers in the elementary grades upstream from Hilsman, but the challenge Hilsman faces is remediating literacy gaps that have already taken hold by the middle years, when students arrive with foundational gaps and less time to close them before high school placement decisions. The district is also completing major school renovations using a dedicated sales tax for capital projects, so building condition and facilities are improving, though Athens housing is in a tight market with modest inventory and housing costs trending upward.

The school's setting is in a mixed-character town anchored by the University of Georgia, with a dense walkable core downtown and adjacent historic residential neighborhoods, then suburban development and rural edges beyond. Employment is concentrated in the university, healthcare, manufacturing, and food processing. The town is in active growth with announced major employers and housing projects under construction, which creates some economic momentum for the district and area families but also drives up housing competition.

Hilsman is a neighborhood middle school with no magnet or charter designation and no special or alternative focus. It is a regular public school serving its assigned attendance zone. No data on special education enrollment, English learner population, or staffing was available to characterize those dimensions of school support.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 23% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 26% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 37% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Science

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 27% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 32% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state 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.