Renaissance Middle School, Fairburn GA

Original Research by School Decision on Renaissance Middle School

Renaissance Middle School serves grades six through eight in Fairburn, a mixed-use Atlanta suburb roughly 17 to 20 miles south of downtown. The school enrolls a substantial community of students, with a majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and a student body that is overwhelmingly Black. State assessment data from the most recent school year shows that proficiency in reading and language arts runs in the low-to-mid range across all three grades, with math proficiency notably lower, and science proficiency substantially below state standards on the eighth-grade assessment.

The setting reflects Fairburn's character as a working-class logistics and industrial hub near I-85, with a historic downtown core on West Broad Street but a broader suburban footprint. The area has active new residential construction and is undertaking strategic planning and comprehensive rezoning, signaling growth. Housing values in the zip code are moderate relative to the broader Atlanta market, and median household income across the region is middle-class by national standards. Renaissance sits on a suburban school campus rather than within the downtown historic district.

On reading and language arts, Renaissance students show measurable proficiency across sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, with seventh grade performing slightly stronger than the other two. Math proficiency is considerably lower across all three grades, a pattern that invites parent conversation with the school about how mathematics is supported, what tutoring or intervention options exist, and whether any specialized math tracks or approaches are available at the secondary level. On eighth-grade science, proficiency was quite low. Eighth-grade social studies showed the strongest performance of any subject tested. No multi-year trend data is available, so whether these results represent stable performance, improvement, or decline cannot be determined from the current data.

Compared to other districts in Fulton County, Renaissance's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint. The school has no reported graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades; parents should understand that Renaissance feeds into a Fulton County high school and that the district's broader literacy initiative, "Every Child Reads," which was launched with substantial federal funding and emphasizes science-based reading instruction and training for teachers, reaches into middle school classrooms as well. This district-wide shift toward unified reading practices has been credited with gains on state assessments, and is relevant context for understanding how reading instruction flows through the middle school years.

Chronic absenteeism data and discipline data were not available, so a full picture of school environment requires direct parent inquiry. The school's website and a conversation with administration can clarify what supports are in place for students working below proficiency, what elective or exploratory offerings exist at the sixth through eighth grade level, and how the school partners with families on academic growth. Parents in this area weighing whether Renaissance fits their child may want to ask about tutoring options, reading and math intervention structures, and how the school communicates progress to families.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 47% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 52% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 55% · ▼ 32 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 54% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 56% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 53% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 39% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 49% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolFulton 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income48%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income39%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income55%17 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income32%Higher-income48%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income17%Higher-income29%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income28%Higher-income44%16 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income22%Higher-income34%11 pp gap