William M. Mcgarrah Elementary School, Morrow GA

Original Research by School Decision on William M. Mcgarrah Elementary School

William M. McGarrah Elementary School is a school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Morrow, a mixed commercial-residential suburb in the southern Atlanta metro anchored by Southlake Mall and surrounded by established subdivisions. The school sits in Clayton County Public Schools, a district currently undertaking substantial facility renovation and adding new career-pathway infrastructure.

The school enrolls roughly as many elementary students as would be typical for its grade band in the region. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic demographics of the immediate area. The student body is predominantly Black, with substantial Hispanic and Asian populations and smaller numbers of white and multiracial students. Data on students with IEPs or English learners was not available.

On state assessments for spring 2025, proficiency rates were low across subjects and grades. In mathematics, fourth grade showed the highest rate, while third and fifth grades fell substantially lower. English language arts proficiency was similarly modest across grades three through five. Science proficiency in fifth grade was lower still. When averaged across these tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index placed it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Clayton County, though this comparison reflects conditions among the county's five districts rather than a broader regional or state position.

Social studies assessment data available from 2014 showed much higher proficiency at that time, but that assessment system is no longer in use, so it does not tell you about current performance. Trend data across multiple years is not available for the current assessments, so it is unclear whether performance is changing.

Morrow itself is an auto-oriented suburban city with a heavy commercial base and residential corridors that grew as a bedroom community after the 1950s. The area has modest housing values and rental costs compared to the Atlanta metro average. Clayton State University anchors civic and cultural life nearby, and the city is undertaking redevelopment of The District, a constructed downtown behind Southlake Mall. Parks include Reynolds Nature Preserve, a large wooded tract with trails, and smaller neighborhood parks. The city has invested in pathway and trail networks and is expanding them through ongoing greenway projects.

The school's parent district is in the middle of a multi-year capital transformation funded by a recent ESPLOST bond. While McGarrah Elementary itself is not scheduled for rebuilding, the district is also establishing a new Convocation Center and College and Career Academy in Morrow that opens in 2025. Across all elementary schools, the district has adopted a unified Science-of-Reading literacy approach with universal reading screening, a shift that directly affects classroom instruction in reading. A parent considering this school would want to examine current support structures and literacy implementation at McGarrah specifically, as well as the school's engagement with the district's broader initiatives.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 29% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 21% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 17% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 23% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 25% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 23% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grades 3-883%

School 83% · district not reported

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

This schoolClayton 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.