NCES CCD 2024-25 21 schools GA

Best-Resourced Schools in Athens, GA

Compiled from official source data by .

21 public K-12 schools in Athens from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
21
Schools
13,866
Students
41.5/100
Avg Resource Index
13:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Athens has more public-school enrollment than 87% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Athens sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

13 of Athens's 21 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 34-point gap between South Jackson Elementary School and Classic City High School shows the range hidden by Athens's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 13%
School count
Top 14%
Resource Index average
53rd percentile
Teacher staffing
79th percentile

Athens school enrollment varies 33× across entities

Athens school enrollment ranges from 58 students (lowest) to 1,907 students (highest), a spread of 1,849 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Athens reports 78.7% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share is at least 75%, indicating a high concentration of measured economic need. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Athens student-teacher ratio is 13.0:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. South Jackson Elementary School 52
2. Judia Jackson Harris Elementary 51
3. Fowler Drive Elementary School 48
4. Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School 47
5. Hilsman Middle School 46
6. Foothills Charter High School (Central Office - Athens) 45
7. Barrow Elementary School 45
8. Whitehead Road Elementary School 43
9. Timothy Elementary School 43
10. Alps Road Elementary School 43
11. Coile Middle School 42
12. Chase Street Elementary School 42
13. Howard B. Stroud Elementary School 42
14. Clarke Middle School 41
15. Whit Davis Road Elementary School 41
16. Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School 39
17. Barnett Shoals Elementary School 39
18. Cedar Shoals High School 38
19. Clarke Central High School 36
20. Gaines Elementary School 31
21. Classic City High School 18

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Athens

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Clarke Central High School 69.9/100
  2. 2 Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School 69.5/100
  3. 3 Timothy Elementary School 68.8/100
  4. 4 Whit Davis Road Elementary School 68.7/100
  5. 5 Barrow Elementary School 67.7/100

What do families ask about schools in Athens?

Which Athens school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

South Jackson Elementary School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Athens schools in this federal-data comparison at 52/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Athens, GA? ▼

Athens has 21 public schools with a total enrollment of 13,866 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 13:1.

Other Cities in Georgia

Atlanta
137 schools
Marietta
60 schools
Columbus
49 schools
Savannah
48 schools
Augusta
42 schools
Decatur
41 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Georgia →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.