Live Oak Elementary School, Albany GA

Original Research by School Decision on Live Oak Elementary School

Live Oak Elementary is a school of about mid-sized enrollment serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Albany, a regional hub in southwest Georgia anchored by health care, military, and manufacturing. The school sits on Gillionville Road on the southern side of the city, in a neighborhood where new housing development is underway through state-funded workforce initiatives.

The school's student body is predominantly Black, with nearly all students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment spans all seven grades served, with relatively stable numbers across grade levels and a strong early childhood program at the pre-K and kindergarten levels.

State assessment results for tested grades show proficiency rates that place the school significantly below the state middle. In mathematics, proficiency ranges from the low teens in fourth grade to just under a third in third grade and roughly a quarter in fifth grade. In English language arts, results are similar, with proficiency near a quarter in third grade, a low rate in fourth grade, and about a third in fifth grade. Science proficiency, measured only in fifth grade, sits at roughly a third. These outcomes reflect the reality that the majority of students are not yet meeting grade-level standards in core subjects. A parent may want to look into the school's specific instructional approaches in math and reading, which subjects these results highlight as places where students need additional support.

Data on special education enrollment and English learner rates was not available. Chronic absenteeism, attendance rates, and discipline data were also not provided, so a parent interested in understanding the day-to-day school culture and engagement would benefit from asking the school directly about those measures.

The school is part of Dougherty County School System, a district that has made sustained choices around property tax, rolling back the school millage rate multiple times over two decades and holding it below the threshold it had held for decades prior. That is relevant to families weighing a move into the area: the school property tax burden here has moved in the opposite direction from much of Georgia. The district has also established a registered teacher apprenticeship program, the first recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor in the state, as a structural investment in workforce stability.

Live Oak serves a community with real economic challenges. Housing in the zip code is affordable relative to national benchmarks and below the Georgia state average, with rental costs favoring renters and mortgage costs modest by modern standards. The city itself has experienced population decline over decades, though recent years have brought new housing construction through workforce initiatives and announcements of new jobs in manufacturing and other sectors. For families in the immediate neighborhood or considering relocation to Albany for work or family reasons, Live Oak is the neighborhood elementary school serving a student population that faces significant academic headwinds and needs sustained, targeted intervention in reading and mathematics.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 9 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 30% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 24% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 24% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 39% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grades 3-882%

School 82% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 12 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.