Long Branch Elementary School, Dahlonega GA

Original Research by School Decision on Long Branch Elementary School

Long Branch Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students in the Dahlonega area of Lumpkin County. The school sits on rural-fringe land outside the historic downtown, serving a mix of town and mountain-area families. Housing values in the zip code have risen modestly, and the school draws from families with a median county household income in the lower- to middle-income range. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the catchment area.

The school's academic profile shows below-state-average performance across tested subjects. In math, students in third grade are near the midpoint of proficiency, but the school sees a decline through the upper grades: fourth-grade math proficiency drops into the lower half, and fifth-grade math falls further. English language arts shows similar pressure, with third-grade performance well below the midpoint and gains only in fourth grade before a dip in fifth. Science proficiency, measured in fifth grade only, is below the midpoint. One older data point, social studies from 2013-14, showed much stronger results; that earlier baseline suggests the school's current academic standing reflects a shift rather than consistent weakness, though without more recent trend data a parent may want to look into what has changed and what the school is doing to address current levels of performance. The school does not administer tests in science, social studies, or language arts before third grade, so no state assessment results exist for the early grades.

The student population is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic and multiracial students and very small populations from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The school is small to mid-sized for its grade band, with roughly balanced enrollments across grade levels and a slight dip in second grade. No data on special education or English learner populations was available in the state reporting.

Lumpkin County adopted Reading Horizons Elevate, a science-of-reading phonics curriculum rooted in Orton-Gillingham principles, across all three district elementary schools for fourth and fifth grades beginning in 2023-24. This pedagogy choice shapes how upper-elementary literacy is taught districtwide. The district also opened the College and Career Academy in 2023 in partnership with Lanier Technical College; while that asset serves high school students, it signals a districtwide commitment to career pathways and career-technical education.

One property-tax detail affects families considering a move to the Dahlonega area: the school board opted out of the statewide homestead property tax exemption that capped assessment increases to the federal inflation rate, meaning school tax bills on local property will track assessed value increases rather than being capped. Combined with the district's decision to hold the millage rate steady for multiple years while relying on assessed-value growth to fund operations, this means homeowners should expect school portion property tax bills to rise with local housing values.

Long Branch is a small, economically mixed elementary school serving a rural-leaning area outside the downtown core. Parents considering enrollment should weigh the below-average test results, the school's small size, and the pedagogy shifts in upper-elementary literacy instruction against the community context and any programmatic offerings the school itself provides, which were not detailed in available data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 50%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 47% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 43% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 52% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 47% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Social studies

Grades 3-889%

School 89% · district not reported

▲ 5 pts above state median

This schoolLumpkin 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-income53%Higher-income46%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income47%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income58%Higher-income81%23 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income47%Higher-income61%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income46%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income60%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income57%15 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income45%Higher-income55%10 pp gap