Beacon Hill Middle School, Decatur GA

Original Research by School Decision on Beacon Hill Middle School

Beacon Hill Middle School serves a small to mid-sized cohort of students across grades six through eight in Decatur, a walkable, progressive city just east of Atlanta. The school sits at College Avenue, well within the downtown core and its civic infrastructure. Most families here are white, with meaningful shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students; a modest portion of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a district and community with above-average household income.

On state end-of-grade tests, the school's performance is solidly above the state median and ranks in the top quartile among the eight districts in DeKalb County. Math proficiency is the strongest area, with older students (eighth grade) reaching a substantially higher level than sixth graders, suggesting a progression of skill building as students move through the school. English language arts shows consistent mid-to-high proficiency across all three grades. Science and social studies, tested only in eighth grade, show somewhat lower proficiency, with social studies the weakest of the core subjects measured.

The school's enrollment is stable and roughly balanced across its three grades. About one in six families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Special education enrollment and English learner counts were not available in the data, so parents may want to ask the school directly about the size and support of those populations if relevant to their family.

The housing market in the school's zip code has appreciated modestly, and rents are rising. Families paying for entry-level homeownership here face costs that exceed the national median by a notable margin; renters' housing expenses consume a meaningful share of median household income. This is a neighborhood where housing costs are tied to the city's walkability, downtown amenities, and strong schools.

Beacon Hill draws from a city school district that operates neighborhood schools across a small geographic footprint. Civic assets are concentrated downtown: the courthouse square, MARTA transit, the library, and Legacy Park with its 18 nonprofits and inclusive recreation facilities are all close at hand. The district has pursued sustained affordable housing development in recent years, including new ground-up projects that began opening in 2025 and 2026. City Schools of Decatur is a bounded system serving only its own small city, which shapes both the district's character and the range of schools available to families living here.

The school itself appears well-positioned for families seeking a middle school with solid core academic results, a mixed-race and mixed-income peer environment (though tilted toward white and more affluent families), and proximity to a downtown, walkable neighborhood with strong civic culture. Parents looking at this school may also want to ask about the trajectory of science and social studies instruction, given the gap between those and ELA and math proficiency, and to clarify whether the school offers enriched electives, arts programming, or other curricular choices beyond the tested core.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 46 pts above state median · ▲ 58 pts above county median

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 55 pts above county median

Grade 884%

School 84% · District 84%

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Grade 775%

School 75% · District 75%

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 79%

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Science

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

This schoolCity Schools of Decatur, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income81%38 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income85%65 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income86%61 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income30%Higher-income84%54 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income78%47 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income23%Higher-income87%64 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income85%52 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income29%Higher-income83%54 pp gap