Naomi Elementary School, La Fayette GA

Original Research by School Decision on Naomi Elementary School

Naomi Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in La Fayette, a small county-seat town in northwest Georgia's Walker County, part of the greater Chattanooga area. The school enrolls students from a community with limited economic diversity: a large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly white, with smaller representation from other racial and ethnic groups.

Test results place the school below the midpoint among districts in Walker County. In English language arts, proficiency rates run low in third and fourth grades, then rise substantially in fifth grade. Mathematics shows a similar pattern of lower proficiency in the primary elementary grades with improvement by fifth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits at a modest level. The school's overall proficiency index across tested grades and subjects is above the midpoint among county districts, which reflects the strength in fifth-grade reading balanced against the weaker showings in earlier grades and in math.

This profile suggests uneven mastery as students move through the school. A parent might want to ask the school directly about how reading and math instruction progresses from grade to grade, what support exists for students in third and fourth grade, and what changes occur by fifth grade that appear to correlate with the improvement in those years. Georgia's shift to Science of Reading and Structured Literacy instruction in early grades, now in place across all districts, is relevant background; the school is implementing these state-mandated pedagogical changes alongside new K-12 ELA standards and new aligned assessments beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

La Fayette itself is a car-dependent community anchored by a compact, walkable downtown along South Main Street with local businesses, a public library, and historic courthouse, surrounded by residential neighborhoods mixing older homes and newer subdivisions. The town's population has been roughly stable to slightly declining. Local employers include manufacturing (Roper, Shaw Industries, others) and technical training through a campus of Georgia Northwestern Technical College a short distance away. Housing values are below state and national benchmarks, making the area relatively affordable, though school property taxes in Walker County rose significantly in recent years as the district invested in capital improvements. Voters approved a school sales tax renewal in 2025 that will fund facility work without raising property taxes further.

The school is a regular public school of modest size for its grade band, drawing from the broader Walker County School District. Transportation and practical logistics for families are questions worth taking up with the district directly, as are the school's specific approaches to early literacy and numeracy support. No other data on attendance, discipline, staffing, or specialized services was available to review.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 32% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 41% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 34% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 29% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 34% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 38% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 41% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Social studies

Grades 3-884%

School 84% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolWalker 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

Grades 3-8Lower-income33%Higher-income59%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grades 3-8Lower-income31%Higher-income59%28 pp gap