Beaver Ridge Elementary School, Norcross GA

Original Research by School Decision on Beaver Ridge Elementary School

Beaver Ridge Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Norcross, a growing small city in northern Gwinnett County. The school enrolls a substantial student body, with a high proportion of students from low-income families and a majority-Hispanic enrollment. The student body is also notably diverse by race and ethnicity, with significant representation from Black students and smaller Asian and white populations.

The school's academic performance requires direct attention. In the most recent state testing, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades are low across all tested subjects. In English language arts, roughly one in five fifth graders and one in nine third graders met proficiency on state assessments. Mathematics proficiency sits in the low-to-mid range, with about one in three or four students meeting the standard depending on grade. Science proficiency for fifth grade is similarly modest. A parent reviewing these results should understand that Beaver Ridge is performing in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency when compared to other schools in Gwinnett County, suggesting that academic support and intervention will be important to track.

The school's enrollment reflects Norcross's character as a diverse, immigrant-friendly community experiencing rapid residential growth. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating economic hardship for many families. The school sits on Beaver Ruin Road in a mixed-use area where suburban neighborhoods meet commercial and industrial corridors; it is not within the historic downtown but rather in the broader Norcross suburban zone.

Gwinnett County schools in this area serve families navigating the trade-offs of a region in transition: housing values have risen as development has accelerated, making long-term affordability difficult for working-class residents even as new mixed-income housing has been built. Extended-stay hotels house some working families unable to afford permanent housing. The community anchors are strong—downtown parks, libraries, and transit connections—but school capacity and academic performance pressures accompany rapid growth.

A family considering Beaver Ridge should understand its demographics, its position as a school serving a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students, and its current academic standing. State testing data was not available from prior years, so trend information is missing; a parent may want to ask the school directly about its literacy and numeracy supports, English learner programming, and recent initiatives to improve proficiency rates.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 49% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 55% · ▼ 25 pts below district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 50% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 39% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 43% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 49% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 52% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Social studies

Grades 3-881%

School 81% · district not reported

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

This schoolGwinnett 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 3Lower-income15%Higher-income33%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income21%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income35%1 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income24%Higher-income29%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income22%Higher-income39%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income27%Higher-income33%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income22%15 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income28%Higher-income31%3 pp gap