The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Social studies. The lowest is 5% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bettye Henderson Holston Elementary School
Bettye Henderson Holston Elementary is a small school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Athens, located on Alps Road in the 30606 zip code. The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial share of Hispanic students and smaller numbers of white, multiracial, and Asian students. All students at the school qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, marking it as a high-poverty school.
Academic performance on Georgia's End-of-Grade assessments from the 2024-25 school year is very low across tested subjects and grades. In English language arts, proficiency runs well below expected levels in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Math proficiency is similarly depressed, with third grade showing the highest rate but still only a small share meeting proficiency. In fifth-grade science, proficiency is minimal. The school has only one year of current state testing data available, so trend direction cannot be assessed. The school does have older social studies results from 2014, which showed a substantially higher proficiency rate at that time, but the relevance of that baseline to the current situation is unclear given the time gap and any curricular or assessment changes Georgia may have implemented.
Clarke County School District, the parent district, rolled out a new K-3 literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading beginning in August 2023, shifting to explicit phonics and phonemic awareness instruction. This district-wide change is meant to address phonological foundations directly and keep struggling readers in the classroom rather than pull them out for separate support. A parent considering Holston should ask the school and district what specific supplementary supports exist for students who are not meeting grade-level benchmarks in reading and math, how the new literacy approach is being implemented at this school, and what progress monitoring looks like across the early grades.
The Clarke County housing market is tight with modest home values, and property taxation is relevant to household budgeting. In February 2025, the Clarke County Board of Education voted to opt out of Georgia's homestead exemption cap, meaning homeowners cannot expect their assessed property values for tax purposes to be capped at inflation; property taxes account for a substantial share of the district's general fund. For families on a fixed or tight budget, this property-tax posture is a concrete consideration. The district has approved capital improvements through ESPLOST 6, a continuation of the existing sales tax, which funds school renovations and equipment but does not raise property taxes; this includes major work at other elementary schools in the district.
Athens itself is anchored by the University of Georgia and offers a mixed urban and suburban character, with a dense walkable downtown and historic neighborhoods but limited walkability in most of the residential areas where families live. Employment is diverse, with UGA as the primary employer, significant healthcare and manufacturing sectors, and announced major industrial development. A tight housing market and several mixed-use and housing projects in early or planned stages suggest continued growth and development pressure.
For a family choosing among elementary schools, Holston's very low proficiency numbers are a strong signal that the school is not yet delivering grade-level reading and math outcomes for most students. A parent would want to understand what intervention capacity the school has, whether the science-of-reading curriculum rollout has begun to move the needle, and what the school's plan is to support students who are significantly behind. The school serves a community that faces real economic hardship, and the district's literacy initiative is a structural response; but the academic results shown here suggest substantial catch-up work remains.
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