Babb Middle School, Forest Park GA

Original Research by School Decision on Babb Middle School

Babb Middle School serves grades six through eight in Forest Park, a small, working-class city in Clayton County south of Atlanta. The school sits within a community that is roughly half Hispanic, one-third Black, and young overall, with a median household income lower than state benchmarks and a substantial share of families qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

On state assessment results, the school shows proficiency rates well below the midpoint among Clayton County's districts. In English language arts across the grade band, roughly one in five students demonstrated proficiency. Mathematics results were modestly higher but still low, with proficiency ranging from about a quarter of sixth graders to roughly a third of eighth graders. In science and social studies, which are assessed only in eighth grade, proficiency fell in the low to mid-twenties. Within the county comparison group, Babb's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, though that reflects the county's overall performance profile rather than strength in absolute terms. The school's results signal students entering secondary education with significant gaps in foundational skills across subjects.

The student body numbers roughly nine hundred students, split roughly evenly across the three grades. A substantial majority qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with smaller percentages of Asian, multiracial, and white students. A parent may want to look into further details about special education and English learner services, as those rates were not available in the data provided.

Forest Park itself is undergoing two parallel changes. The former Fort Gillem Army base has been transformed into the Gillem Logistics Center, which now houses Amazon, Kroger's major distribution hub, and other large-format warehouse and distribution operations that collectively represent a significant share of the city's economic footprint. Simultaneously, the historic Main Street corridor is being actively redeveloped with new streetscape infrastructure, a planned pedestrian bridge, downtown housing, and civic anchors like Starr Park and the Forest Park Branch Library. The city has recently entered Georgia's Main Street Program. Population has been roughly flat to slightly declining since 2020. Housing values in the area are below state and national benchmarks, and rental costs are modest relative to median income, making the community relatively affordable by regional standards.

Clayton County Public Schools, the district that operates Babb, recently won voter approval for a major bond referendum to renovate or rebuild thirty-six aging schools, including a complete reconstruction of North Clayton High School. The district is also opening the Clayton County Convocation Center and College and Career Academy in 2025 at the former Southlake Mall in Morrow, a new venue for graduations and a new hub for career-pathway programs. Across the district, all elementary classrooms have moved to Science-of-Reading-based literacy instruction using the Amira universal screening and tutoring system, part of the broader CCPS…Where Literacy Lives initiative aligned with Georgia's Early Literacy Act. These are major systemwide shifts that affect what instructional and facility experience a student will encounter as they move through the grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 16% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 19% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 26% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 24% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 24% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 25% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 17% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 827%

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

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 10 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.