Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School, Jesup GA

Original Research by School Decision on Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School

Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School serves preK through fifth grade in Jesup, a small county seat in Wayne County where manufacturing, a federal prison, and healthcare anchor the local economy. The school enrolls a diverse student body of about that size for its grade band, with substantial shares of Black, White, and Hispanic students. All students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the school's role serving a working-class community.

The school's academic performance is below proficiency across tested subjects. In math, students in grade three reached proficiency at a modest rate, grade four at a slightly higher rate, and grade five at a notably lower rate. In English language arts, grade three students proficiency was similar to math in that grade, grade four students were just above grade three, and by grade five it dropped sharply. Science proficiency in grade five was also low. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency hovers in the low range. These results reflect a school where most students are not yet meeting state standards, and the gap widens as students move from third to fifth grade, particularly in math and language arts. A parent may want to look into what instructional supports or curriculum adjustments the school is working on to address this pattern.

Jesup itself is a working-town character, built around a railroad junction where freight trains run through the downtown at high frequency and Amtrak's Silver Meteor stops daily. The historic downtown has a compact walkable core around the restored 1912 depot, now home to the tourism welcome center and Amtrak station. Beyond that, growth has been modest, with new subdivisions spreading into the surrounding forests on the city edges and in unincorporated areas. Wayne County High School has modern athletic and instructional facilities from a recent renovation, and voters approved a sales tax in 2022 to fund ongoing capital projects including new agriculture and JROTC facilities at the high school and a new track, so the district is investing in plant and infrastructure.

Housing in the Jesup zip code is affordable relative to state benchmarks, and mortgage costs for a typical home run moderate. The town offers the texture of a genuine small-town main street and the steady presence of rail, but limited public transit beyond Amtrak and freight lines. Families drawn to this school are typically embedded in the local community or seeking affordable, stable housing in a place where the commercial and industrial backbone remains intact. Martha Rawls Smith Elementary is the preK-5 building serving this portion of Jesup; if the school's current proficiency trends are a concern, parents may want to discuss with school leadership what academic interventions or programs are underway to narrow the performance gap, especially in the upper elementary grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 43% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 48% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 33% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 36%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 31% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 40% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Social studies

Grades 3-869%

School 69% · district not reported

▼ 14 pts below state median

This schoolWayne 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.