Turner Woods Elementary School, Gray GA

Original Research by School Decision on Turner Woods Elementary School

Turner Woods Elementary School is a regular public elementary school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Gray, a small county-seat city in central Jones County. The school's location places it in a community that functions as a residential bedroom area for workers commuting to Macon and Milledgeville, with Gray itself centered on civic and retail services around its historic courthouse.

The school enrolls a moderate-sized population for its grade band, with a substantial majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Black students, multiracial students, and Hispanic students. The school does not report special education or English learner enrollment data, which may reflect either small numbers in those categories or a data reporting gap.

On Georgia's end-of-grade assessments in 2024-25, Turner Woods shows a pattern of performance that differs across grade and subject. In math, third- and fourth-graders demonstrate proficiency rates around the upper-middle range, but fifth-graders show a steeper decline, with substantially fewer reaching proficiency. This grade-level drop is worth noting and may warrant a conversation with the school about what shifts in curriculum or student needs occur at the fifth-grade level. Reading performance is lower across the tested grades; roughly half of third through fifth graders reach proficiency in English language arts. Science proficiency at fifth grade sits in the moderate range. The school's most recent multi-year data shows only one year of results, so trend analysis is not yet possible. No graduation rate appears in the data, as the school does not serve grades that are tracked for that metric.

Housing in the area around Gray is moderately priced relative to national norms and below the state benchmark, with median home values in the school's zip code reflecting modest appreciation year-over-year. Mortgage affordability is reasonable by national standards, and rental costs are lower as a share of income than mortgage costs, suggesting that families may find housing accessible compared to many suburban or urban markets.

The Jones County School System has recently made administrative changes relevant to families. In March 2026, the district moved to centralized enrollment at the central office for all incoming K-12 students, replacing individual school registration. The district also launched SPARK Academy, a joint advanced-pathway initiative at the middle school level that serves high-achieving students, creating a gifted track that some families will pursue for their children's progression beyond elementary school. A 2021 school penny-sales-tax referendum enabled the district to consolidate its ninth-grade academy into the high school, affecting the grade configuration for the transition to secondary school.

Turner Woods is the only elementary school in Jones County for which proficiency data is available, so classroom-level peer and academic comparison to other elementary schools in the county cannot be made from the information provided.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 50% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 57% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 42% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 44% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 46% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 44% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Science

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 53% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median

Social studies

Grades 3-884%

School 84% · district not reported

even with state median

This schoolJones 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-income43%Higher-income69%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income49%Higher-income80%31 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income58%16 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income44%Higher-income70%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income60%Higher-income89%29 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income65%Higher-income94%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income50%17 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income52%Higher-income81%29 pp gap