The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in Social studies. The lowest is 35% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Jeff Davis Middle School
Jeff Davis Middle School is a public middle school serving grades six through eight in Hazlehurst, a small rural county seat in southeast Georgia. The school enrolls a student body that is just over two-thirds white, with a meaningful share of Hispanic students and a smaller population of Black students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of Jeff Davis County, where forestry, manufacturing, healthcare, and energy production anchor the local economy.
On state assessments administered in the most recent school year, Jeff Davis Middle shows mixed performance across subjects and grades. In mathematics, students demonstrate stronger proficiency in eighth grade than in sixth, with the highest rate in the upper grade and notably lower proficiency among sixth graders. English language arts results are consistently lower across all three grades, with seventh grade the weakest point. Science proficiency, measured only at eighth grade, sits in the low-to-mid range. Social studies proficiency at eighth grade is the school's strongest performance area. Taking the school across all tested subjects and grades, math proficiency hovers near half of students, ELA proficiency is roughly one-third, science is in the low-to-mid range, and social studies outperforms the other academic areas. The school's overall pattern suggests students gain ground in math as they progress through the middle grades, but reading and writing remain areas of meaningful challenge.
The school sits in the county's sole school district, so direct comparison to peer middle schools in the same county is not available from the data. Chronic absenteeism and four-year graduation rates, which would offer additional context on student engagement and longer-term outcomes, were not reported for the school.
Hazlehurst itself is a compact town built around the historic courthouse and a quiet downtown of mom-and-pop stores and boutiques, though most commercial and civic activity stretches along the highway corridors that define the area. Housing is modest and owner-occupied, with a mix of single-story ranch homes, farmhouses, and mobile homes. Population growth is slow but steady. The town hosts three city parks and several county parks, a municipal golf course, and access to the Altamaha River heritage sites, though public transit is limited. Recent economic development has emphasized industrial recruitment and a downtown master plan, with visible new investment in solar farming operations. Schools operate on separate campuses outside the immediate downtown core.
A parent considering Jeff Davis Middle should understand that the school serves a student population facing economic pressure and that state assessment results indicate many students are not yet proficient in reading and writing. The math trajectory by grade is a relative strength. Whether this school's particular teaching approaches, supports, staffing, or programs would help a student thrive would warrant direct conversation with the school leadership, as those details fall outside the data available here.
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