Gladden Middle School, Chatsworth GA

Original Research by School Decision on Gladden Middle School

Gladden Middle School serves grades seven and eight in Chatsworth, Georgia, a small county-seat city in northwestern Georgia anchored by manufacturing and healthcare employment. The school sits on Old Dalton Ellijay Road on the edge of town, a typical placement for rural Georgia county schools that spread their campuses across the county rather than concentrating them downtown.

The school enrolls a student body of moderate size for its grade band, with roughly similar numbers in each grade. About four of every five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a student population drawn predominantly from lower-income households. The enrollment is majority white, with a substantial Hispanic population, a small Asian population, and very few Black students or students of other races.

State test results from 2024-25 show proficiency rates in the low to mid range across all tested subjects. In math, seventh grade proficiency is near the lower third of the scale, with eighth grade slightly higher. English language arts proficiency is similar at both grades, running just above the math figures. Science shows the strongest performance of the four tested subjects, while social studies at eighth grade is the lowest area. No trend data is available to show whether results are improving, declining, or holding steady; only one year of results has been reported. The school does not report data on students with individualized education plans or English learners, so it is unclear whether those subpopulations face particular gaps or what supports are available to them.

Chatsworth itself is a quiet, slow-growth county seat with a small downtown anchored by City Park and a few blocks of brick buildings. The city serves as the retail hub of Murray County and the gateway to Fort Mountain State Park and the Cohutta Wilderness, drawing modest new residential development and, more significantly, medical workers drawn by expansion of AdventHealth. The community is car-dependent; most residents own their homes, and the housing market has moderated from recent years to a steadier pace. Nearby employment in manufacturing and healthcare provides the backbone of the local economy.

The school is part of Murray County Schools, which in late 2023 won voter approval for a five-year capital spending plan funding a new gymnasium and full renovation at Murray County High School, an addition to Northwest Elementary, and athletic improvements at North Murray High. In 2025, the district also rolled back the education portion of the local property tax, the first rate change in more than two decades. Those shifts affect the district's fiscal position and may signal where district priorities lie as families weigh school choices.

A parent evaluating Gladden should focus on the proficiency results and think about what academic support or intervention the school offers students whose performance falls below grade level. The school's strengths and areas for growth are visible in the test data; conversations with school staff about remediation, tutoring, enrichment, and intervention structures would ground a fuller picture of what the classroom experience looks like.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 44% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 36% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 35% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Science

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 14 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 35% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median

This schoolMurray 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 7Lower-income32%Higher-income42%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income60%19 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income37%Higher-income51%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income30%Higher-income55%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income37%Higher-income60%22 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income34%Higher-income58%24 pp gap