Lake Park Elementary School, Albany GA

Original Research by School Decision on Lake Park Elementary School

Lake Park Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Albany, a regional hub in southwest Georgia whose population has gradually shrunk over decades. The school sits in a working-class city anchored by healthcare, manufacturing, education, and the Marine Corps Logistics Base, with civic life centered in a revitalized downtown along the Flint River.

The school's student body reflects the city's demographic composition. A substantial majority of students are Black, with meaningful shares of white and other racial groups represented. About three in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating significant economic need across the enrollment. The school is of moderate size for its grade band, with just over one percent of students in pre-K through about one in six in fifth grade.

State testing data from the most recent year shows mixed proficiency outcomes. In English language arts, fourth and fifth graders each reached about half of proficiency, while third graders fell to below that level. Math proficiency was lower overall, with fourth grade at roughly half, third grade somewhat below that, and fifth grade the weakest link at under a third proficient. Science, tested only in fifth grade, showed about half of students proficient. An older snapshot from social studies, now a decade back, showed much stronger performance, though that assessment has since changed statewide and cannot be directly compared to current results. The school has only one year of recent testing data, so no trend is yet visible.

Dougherty County School System, the school's district, has made a deliberate choice to lower school property-tax rates six times over recent decades without raising them, keeping tax burden lighter than the Georgia average even as property taxes rise statewide. The district has also launched the first registered Teacher Apprenticeship Program in Georgia recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, a structural initiative to grow its own teaching workforce and address staffing challenges. These moves signal district priorities around fiscal restraint and workforce stability, though they do not directly address the academic performance questions Lake Park's test results raise.

For families considering this school, the picture is one of a neighborhood elementary in a city with modest economic anchor points, serving students with real economic need, and currently showing proficiency rates well below the midpoint in both math and English language arts. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to literacy and numeracy development, the available special services and interventions, and specific classroom configurations to understand how the school is working to move proficiency forward. The low-tax environment and workforce investment in the district are structural positives, but the academic results themselves invite closer conversation with the school about next steps.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 31% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 30% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 23% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 24% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 29% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Science

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 39% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Social studies

Grades 3-891%

School 91% · district not reported

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

This schoolDougherty 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.