Decatur Schools Ranked Among Georgia's Best

DECATUR, GA — Decatur city schools were ranked No. 4 in the state, according to data compiler Niche, which has ranked Georgia's best school districts for the 2019-2020 school year. The rankings were released Monday as part of the website's 2020 K-12 rankings. Decatur city schools received an overall grade of A+, with its 5,230 students enrolled in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1. According to state test scores, 70% of students are at least proficient in math and 69% in reading..

Each Georgia school district received a letter grade in the following categories: Academics; Diversity; Teachers; College Prep; Clubs & Activities; Health & Safety; Administration; Sports; Food; and Resources & Facilities.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data, and ratings collected from Niche users. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

One Niche reviewer wrote, "I have been at Decatur City Schools since preschool and am currently a senior. One thing that I really love about the school district is how much the strong community is attached to it. " Another said, "I attended Decatur High School. It was a fantastic experience for me. The academic was very rigorous. The teacher were thorough and challenged me to be the best that I can be."

The top-ranked school district in Georgia is Buford City Schools. Niche gave the school system an A or an A+ in every category. Last year, Buford was also No. 1. (See last year's list as a comparison: Georgia's Best School Districts: New Rankings Released)

Buford, Forsyth County and Fayette County were the only metro Atlanta school districts to crack the top 10. Cherokee and Cobb counties came in at Nos. 14 and 16, respectively, while Gwinnett came in at No. 21. Fulton County was ranked No. 30. Dawson, Coweta and Hall were ranked 36-38, respectively, while Marietta city schools were ranked No. 41.

The Atlanta and DeKalb County school systems did not crack the top 75. Both districts were unranked, and both received an overall grade of C+.

Here are Georgia's top 10:

1. Buford City Schools
2. Oconee County Schools
3. Forsyth County Schools
4. Decatur City Schools
5. Jefferson City Schools
6. Fayette County Public Schools
7. Carrollton City Schools
8. Bremen City Schools
9. Calhoun City Schools
10. Cartersville City Schools

Read: Georgia's best school districts 2020 ranking.

Niche looked at more than 94,000 public schools, 4,100 private schools and nearly 11,000 school districts across the country. The rankings are meant to help parents and students find schools that best fit their needs.

"Unlike traditional school rankings, which rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance, Niche's rankings provide a real-life view of what it's like to attend a given school," the company said in a news release.Comments from current students, alumni, and parents are included in the analysis, as well as observations about things like campus life, extracurricular activities, sports options, diversity, and programs for gifted and special needs students.

"Parents and students need more than test-score data," Luke Skurman, CEO at Niche, said in the news release. "They need to understand what it's really like to attend a school before they start the application or registration process."