Harpst Academy

As a rural-scale all-grades campus in Cedartown, Georgia, Harpst Academy hosts 32 students from grades pre-K through 12, one of the schools within Polk County. By comparison, Georgia's public schools average about 738 students each, so Harpst Academy sits 96% leaner than that benchmark.

Harpst Academy is one of 11 schools operated by Polk County, a district that hosts 7,745 students overall.

Demographically, Harpst Academy records that the most-represented group is White (50%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder reads as 34% Black, 13% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Polk County as a whole is about 73% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school reports having 6 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 5.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.7:1, putting Harpst Academy tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 91% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is higher than Polk County's rate of about 77%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Harpst Academy falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 30.5%; this one comes in at 3.0%, -27.5 points off the demographic line.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Polk County shows median household earnings sit near $58,515, about 15% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 14%. Across Polk County's 11 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,745 students), Harpst Academy is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Northside Elementary, around 0.7 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Harpst Academy. On composite proficiency, Harpst Academy comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 34.9%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Five-year trend. Harpst Academy's enrollment has fell 44% since 2018, when it stood at 57 (now 32). Over the same period, the White share shrank from 74% to 50%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 7.6:1 in 2018 to 5.3:1 today.

On allk12, the feed for Harpst Academy typically covers open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.