Parkside Elementary School vs Burgess-Peterson Elementary School

Burgess-Peterson Elementary School ranks #6 of 2,268 schools in Georgia, while Parkside Elementary School comes in at #33 of 2,268 — both strong performers, but Burgess-Peterson sits in a tier very few Georgia elementary schools reach. The overall rating gap is 0.4 points, with Burgess-Peterson at 9.5/10 and Parkside at 9.1/10. That difference, modest on paper, reflects a meaningful gap in how the two schools perform against state peers just 2.0 miles apart.

The sharpest distinction between the two schools is academic proficiency. Burgess-Peterson Elementary School scores 8.7/10 on academics versus Parkside Elementary School's 7.4/10 — a 1.3-point gap that places Burgess-Peterson considerably ahead on measured student achievement. On growth, however, the two schools are nearly identical: Parkside earns a 9.9/10 and Burgess-Peterson a 9.8/10. Both schools are pushing students forward at an exceptional rate relative to similar-starting peers, which means Parkside is closing gaps quickly even though its proficiency baseline is lower.

Both schools serve PK–05 and operate at comparable enrollment sizes — Parkside at 603 students and Burgess-Peterson at 568. The student-teacher ratio at Burgess-Peterson is 13.2:1 versus Parkside's 13.7:1, a modest difference that translates to slightly more instructor attention per child. The free and reduced-price lunch rate differs more substantially: 48% at Parkside versus 35% at Burgess-Peterson, indicating that Parkside serves a higher share of economically disadvantaged families, which gives context to its lower proficiency score alongside its near-perfect growth number.

Both schools cover the same grade band, PK through 5th, so there is no structural difference in the years a family would spend at either campus. The key separating factor across every comparable metric is Burgess-Peterson's academic score advantage — that 1.3-point gap represents the primary driver of its #6 statewide ranking versus Parkside's #33.