Hannan Elementary, Columbus GA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hannan Elementary

Hannan Elementary is a school of about small-to-mid size located in Columbus on Talbotton Road, serving kindergarten through fifth grade under Muscogee County Public Schools. Almost all students come from low-income households, with the very large majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller populations of white, Hispanic, and multiracial students.

The state testing results for the 2024-25 school year are weak across the board. In third grade, math proficiency is very low; fourth grade is even lower. Fifth grade shows marked improvement in both math and ELA, with proficiency moving to roughly the upper third and lower two-fifths respectively. Science proficiency in fifth grade matches the ELA rate. The grade-by-grade pattern suggests students struggle most in the middle elementary years, with some recovery by the time they reach fifth.

Overall school-wide, math proficiency across tested grades sits in the low-to-mid range, while ELA proficiency is below one-third. Science proficiency is in the upper-mid range but reflects only fifth-grade testing. These results place Hannan significantly below district and state baselines. A parent may want to look into what interventions the school is implementing for third and fourth grades in particular, where the numbers are most acute, and what shifts happen in the fifth-grade program that correlates with the improvement at that level.

Columbus itself is a mid-sized city with military presence (Fort Moore), corporate anchors including Aflac, and a visible revitalization effort centered on Uptown, the RiverWalk, and downtown arts and culture. The city has lost population since 2020, with economists citing outmigration toward Atlanta, though major employers and development projects continue. Median household income in the metro area is solid by regional standards. Housing values in the school's zip code are below state and national medians, and rents are moderate; affordability measured against national benchmarks is reasonable, though property taxes have been rising above rollback rates in recent years.

The district has locked in an ESPLOST sales-tax measure through 2030 for capital projects including a consolidation of two elementary schools and substantial safety retrofits, signaling multi-year facility investment. The district has also adopted above-rollback property tax levies in consecutive years, including a tentative increase for 2026, which is relevant for families considering long-term housing costs.

Hannan serves a population under profound economic stress, and the testing data shows that students are struggling to meet grade-level standards in critical early years. The recovery in fifth grade is a note of possibility but also raises questions about what has not been sustained in earlier grades. For a family with strong academic support capacity at home or supplemental resources, the school's challenges may be navigable; for families relying on the school as their primary resource, the weak proficiency rates, especially in math in grades three and four, are a real concern.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 27% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 30% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 26% · ▲ 11 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 25% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 32% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Science

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 32% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Social studies

Grades 3-866%

School 66% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolMuscogee 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.