Redan Elementary School, Lithonia GA

Original Research by School Decision on Redan Elementary School

Redan Elementary serves the young learners of Lithonia, a small city in eastern DeKalb County with deep roots in the granite-quarrying trade and a predominantly Black or African American community anchored around a walkable historic downtown. The school itself is located outside that compact city center, sitting in the residential neighborhoods that ring the commercial core.

The school enrolls students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Its enrollment is small and its population is highly concentrated: virtually all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is overwhelmingly Black or African American, with smaller shares of Hispanic, multiracial, and other students. The school serves the early elementary grades alongside older primary students, which means state testing data is available only for grades three through five.

The testing results reveal a school operating well below grade-level proficiency. Across English language arts, math, and science for the grades where data is reported, proficiency rates fall in the low range. In math, third-graders score lowest, and proficiency drops further in fifth grade. In English language arts, the pattern mirrors this: fourth-grade proficiency is particularly low. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits somewhat above the math and ELA results but still remains modest. When averaged across all tested subjects and grade levels, the school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the county's districts, though this reflects a broad comparison across a varied district landscape.

The school is located in an area of transition. Lithonia itself sits in one of DeKalb County's growing corridors near Stonecrest and I-20, with new townhome communities and apartment developments under construction or recently opened. Housing values in the zip code show modest levels relative to state and national benchmarks, with rental costs making up a substantial share of local household income.

At the district level, families should be aware that DeKalb County is in the midst of the Student Assignment Project, a multi-year redistricting and consolidation effort launched in 2024 that could close or repurpose dozens of schools. An initial proposal in February 2025 flagged 27 schools for possible closure; revised scenarios have since been developed. A final recommendation is expected to reach the Board of Education in December 2026. This ongoing process has direct implications for future school assignments and stability, and a parent may want to look into the specific status of Redan and its cluster as those plans evolve.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 34% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 35% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 32% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 30% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 411%

School 11% · District 30% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 35% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 9 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 3-854%

School 54% · district not reported

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 15 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.