Buchanan Elementary School, Buchanan GA

Original Research by School Decision on Buchanan Elementary School

Buchanan Elementary serves grades three through five in the town of Buchanan, the county seat of Haralson County, a small manufacturing hub about fifty miles west of Atlanta. The school enrolls a small group of students, the vast majority of whom come from economically disadvantaged households.

The school's academic standing shows a mixed picture across tested subjects. In math, students demonstrate stronger performance, with proficiency rates in the low-to-mid range across all three grades. English language arts performance is noticeably weaker, dropping below half proficiency in fourth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits slightly above the middle. Across all tested subjects and grades, Buchanan Elementary's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint when compared to the two other districts in Haralson County, though the absolute performance levels mean that in each subject, more than a third of students are not meeting grade-level standards. The school does not serve high school grades, so no graduation rate is available.

Buchanan Elementary's student body is predominantly white, with very small numbers of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. An extraordinarily high proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting deep economic stress in the school's attendance zone. Data on special education and English learner populations were not provided. The school sits in an area where home values are somewhat below the state average, and affordability pressures are substantial; renters pay nearly a quarter of household income for housing, while mortgage payments consume similar shares of income.

Haralson County Schools as a district has invested meaningfully in career and technical education pathways, anchored by a College and Career Academy at the high school where students can earn dual-enrollment credits, industry certificates, and licensures like CNA before graduation. That infrastructure sits at the high school level and does not affect Buchanan Elementary directly, but it signals a district priority that carries through the system. The district approved a five-year sales-tax continuation in 2022 to fund these facilities and renovations. The school board also voted to increase property tax assessments in 2024, a direct impact on homeowner tax bills in the county.

State testing data covers only the most recent school year, so trends cannot be assessed. Without multi-year results or comparison data for individual schools in the county beyond overall proficiency positioning, a parent may want to contact the school directly to understand the school's priorities in reading and writing instruction, its approach to supporting students below grade level, and what kinds of intervention or enrichment are available across the three grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 48% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 59% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 53% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 37% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 37% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 43% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 55% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Social studies

Grades 3-885%

School 85% · district not reported

▲ 1 pts above state median

This schoolHaralson 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.