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What's something Mercer Middle School does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
512
Middle
DISTRICT 543 · STATE 763
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAVANNAH-CHATHAM COUNTY·NCES 130102000387
Mercer Middle School
100 Priscilla D. Thomas way, Garden City, GA 31408 · (912) 395-6700 · Chatham County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL512 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 2% of Georgia public middle schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- CThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Georgia public middle schools
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 14.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
433 students
DISTRICT 75% · STATE 74%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 196 | 38% |
| Grade 7 | 169 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 147 | 29% |
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · STATE 71% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
Georgia Milestones 2024-25 . % Proficient or DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
13.4%
GA avg 40.1% . +4.6pp since 2021
Math
8.3%
GA avg 44.6% . +0.6pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 13 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 8 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Georgia schools, those numbers are about 40 and 45. Reading and writing scores are up about 5 points since 2021, while math scores have held steady.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 13.4% | 8.3% |
| 2023-24 | 14.9% | 7.3% |
| 2022-23 | 10.8% | 6.5% |
| 2021-22 | 8.8% | 7.7% |
% Proficient or Distinguished, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Georgia Milestones. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of GA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
12.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.6%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-21.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 12% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 34% typical for Georgia schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Mercer Middle School
Mercer Middle School's state test result (12.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer Middle School this school | 512 | 84.6% | 12.2% |
| Yeager Middle School Douglasville | 529 | 79.2% | 36.7% |
| Chestnut Log Middle School Douglasville | 719 | 84.0% | 26.9% |
| Stockbridge Middle School Stockbridge | 673 | 81.6% | 17.3% |
| Tapp Middle School Powder Springs | 809 | 87.4% | 42.9% |
| Southwest Middle School Savannah | 528 | 80.9% | 15.6% |
Matched among Georgia middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Mercer Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In Chatham County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 12.2% | #445 of 470 | #6 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 8.3% | #459 of 474 ▼ 2 | #6 of 9 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 13.4% | #454 of 474 ▲ 2 | #5 of 9 ▲ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +2.6pp | #303 of 465 | #6 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 512 | #370 of 487 | #5 of 9 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.8:1 | #115 of 471 | #7 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.1% | #210 of 471 | #5 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.6% | #230 of 479 | #5 of 9 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +44.6% | #7 of 144 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
512
+44 (+9%) vs 2020
-50% since 1990-91, when it was 1,020
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
was 18.0:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 512 | 39.9 | 12.8:1 | 85% (433) |
| 2023-24 | 404 | 25.1 | 16.1:1 | 74% (299) |
| 2022-23 | 402 | 23.1 | 17.4:1 | 90% (361) |
| 2020-21 | 468 | 26 | 18.0:1 | 78% (364) |
| 2017-18 | 354 | 30.7 | 11.5:1 | 76% (268) |
| 2015-16 | 358 | 31 | 11.6:1 | 91% (325) |
| 2010-11 | 687 | 51 | 13.5:1 | 81% (558) |
| 2000-01 | 554 | 39 | 14.2:1 | 54% (300) |
| 1990-91 | 1,020 | 63 | 16.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mercer Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 45% (354 to 512); teachers up 30% (30.7 to 39.9).
About Mercer Middle School
Mercer Middle School is a public middle school run by Savannah-Chatham County in Garden City, Georgia. A federal count lists 512 students at the school, in grades 6 through 8. An average school in this group (middle schools in Georgia) has about 763 students.
Mercer Middle School is in Savannah-Chatham County, a district with 36,355 students across 58 schools.
At Mercer Middle School, Black students make up 54% of the student body. After that, the student body is 35% Hispanic, 6% White, and 4% multiracial. Census figures show Chatham County is about 39% Black. Pick two students at random and there is a 58% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teacher staffing is 39.9 full-time equivalents, or about 12.8 students per teacher. This ratio sits 1.3 below the 14.1:1 average for middle schools in Georgia. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 85%. Compared with the 74% average for public schools in Chatham County, the school's rate is higher.
The allk12 Grade for Mercer Middle School is F. Compared with Georgia public middle schools, the school scored higher than 2% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
BeatsExpectations places Mercer Middle School in the bottom 10% of Georgia schools. The measure fits a line through proficiency and free or reduced-price lunch share for each state, and this school sits 21.4 points below it (12.2% actual, 33.6% predicted).
Federal survey data for Chatham County show that the median household income is $71,097, roughly 38% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. There are 60 public schools in Chatham County, enrolling about 36,380 students in all.
Groves High School is the public school closest to Mercer Middle School, less than a tenth of a mile away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Mercer Middle School ranks 8th of 8 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 12.2% against a local average of 34.2%.
Locale data from NCES put Mercer Middle School in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more (Suburb: Large).
Federal data show a 9% enrollment rise, from 468 in 2020-21 to 512 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 18.0:1 in 2020-21 to 12.8:1 in 2024-25.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Chatham County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
300,879
Census ACS
Median income
$71,097
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
60
36,380 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Savannah-Chatham County
- Godley Station SchoolElementary · 1,585 students
- Groves High SchoolHigh · 1,469 students
- Jenkins High SchoolHigh · 1,265 students
- Pulaski Elementary SChoolElementary · 1,147 students
- New Hampstead High SchoolHigh · 1,123 students
- New Hampstead K-8 SchoolElementary · 1,118 students
Other schools in Garden City
- Groves High SchoolHigh · 1,469 students
- Garden City Elementary SchoolElementary · 597 students
Other Mercer Middle schools
One other US public school is named Mercer Middle. Mercer Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Mercer MiddleAldie, VA · 1,459 students
Nearby schools
- Groves High School0.0 mi · 1,469
- Woodville-Tompkins Technical and Career High School1.2 mi · 694
- Garden City Elementary School1.3 mi · 597
- Otis J Brock III Elementary School2.3 mi · 568
- Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center3.3 mi · 25
- Butler Elementary School3.5 mi · 524
Frequently asked questions
About Mercer Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Mercer Middle School?
Mercer Middle School enrolls approximately 512 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Mercer Middle School serve?
Mercer Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Mercer Middle School?
Approximately 12.8:1 students per teacher at Mercer Middle School.
How diverse is Mercer Middle School?
Mercer Middle School reports a student body of 6% White, 35% Hispanic, 54% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Mercer Middle School in?
Mercer Middle School is part of Savannah-Chatham County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.