Callaway Elementary School, Jonesboro GA

Original Research by School Decision on Callaway Elementary School

Callaway Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Jonesboro, a small Clayton County seat about a short drive south of downtown Atlanta. The school enrolls a substantial student body, with all students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The majority of the student population is Black, with a meaningful Hispanic presence and small numbers of students from other backgrounds.

The most recent state testing data shows academic results that are notably low across the board. In English language arts, proficiency spans from the mid-teens in third grade to slightly higher in fourth and fifth grades, landing in the low-to-mid twenties overall. Math proficiency follows a similar pattern, with third-grade results in the low twenties and fifth grade slightly higher. Science proficiency, measured only in fifth grade, is in the mid-teens. These results place Callaway's overall proficiency index in the top quartile among Clayton County districts, a positioning that reflects both the school's performance and the broader proficiency landscape across the county.

The district context matters here. Clayton County Public Schools is undertaking a significant capital renovation and replacement initiative, funded by a recent voter-approved sales tax, that will reshape facilities across the system. Callaway is positioned in a district that is also implementing a Science-of-Reading approach to literacy instruction at the elementary level, with all K-5 classrooms now using the Amira universal reading screener and tutor. This is a foundational pedagogical shift meant to strengthen how reading is taught and identified from the start.

Jonesboro itself is a mixed-character town: a compact historic downtown with storefronts, murals, and the county courthouse sits alongside suburban roads, big-box retail along U.S. 41, and quiet residential streets. The town is pursuing downtown-focused growth, with mixed-use development underway and new housing construction planned. The housing market is comparatively affordable for the metro area, with home values and rents notably lower than state and national benchmarks.

A parent considering Callaway should recognize that current proficiency results are quite low and represent an area where the school and district are actively working to build stronger foundations through literacy intervention and screening. State testing results are the most recent measure available; the school does not report trend data over multiple years, so assessing how proficiency may be changing is not possible from the data at hand. A parent may want to look into further detail with the school or district about how the Science-of-Reading implementation is progressing, what literacy support looks like in practice, and what trajectory is expected as these initiatives take hold.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 23% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 29% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 21% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 17% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 23% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 23% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grades 3-876%

School 76% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 1 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.