Shadow Rock Elementary School, Lithonia GA

Original Research by School Decision on Shadow Rock Elementary School

Shadow Rock Elementary serves a small school population in eastern DeKalb County, in Lithonia, a historic granite-quarrying city near Stonecrest and I-20. The school enrolls students from pre-K through fifth grade. All students at Shadow Rock qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is split roughly evenly across the grade bands, with the school's student body predominantly Black or African American, along with students from Hispanic, multiracial, and other backgrounds.

The academic picture at Shadow Rock is one of substantial challenge. Most recent state testing in math and English language arts shows proficiency rates below the school's county peers. In third grade, just under a third of students met proficiency in ELA and roughly three in ten in math. Fourth grade performed more starkly lower, with only about one in six students reaching proficiency in either subject. Fifth-grade results sat between those two: roughly one in five students proficient in math, about one in four in ELA. In science, fifth graders achieved a similar proportion meeting proficiency. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the eight districts in DeKalb County, though that positioning reflects the county's broader academic landscape rather than strong absolute performance. No trend data spanning multiple years is available from the state assessment system, so whether these results represent a plateau, recent decline, or recovery cannot be determined from the data on hand.

Lithonia itself is a growing area. New residential construction including townhomes and apartments is underway in the Stonecrest corridor nearby, and the Arabia Mountain PATH trail system anchors outdoor recreation for the community. Downtown Lithonia features a walkable historic district with small shops and cafes, though the school campuses serving Lithonia, including Shadow Rock, sit outside the historic core. Housing in the zipcode has moderated slightly in recent value, though remains a consideration for families weighing entry cost and property tax. The district's property tax rate, while being rolled back by the board for three consecutive years, remains elevated, and rising home values have continued to raise tax bills year over year. DeKalb's Student Assignment Project, a multi-year redistricting and consolidation effort launched in 2024 to address excess school capacity, may reshape attendance boundaries and school assignments across multiple clusters including the one serving this area; a final board recommendation is expected in December of 2026, making this a moment of uncertainty for families considering schools in the district.

A parent may want to look into Shadow Rock's current academic improvement plans and staffing with the school directly, to understand what specific supports are in place for early elementary readers and math learners, and how the school approaches the gap between its current results and grade-level expectations. The state testing data available covers only grades three through five; early elementary reading and math instruction would merit direct conversation with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 34% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 35% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 32% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 30% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 30% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 35% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grades 3-859%

School 59% · district not reported

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolDeKalb 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.