Garden Hills Elementary School in Atlanta

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	6/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Georgia Milestones End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment data from Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement, and using 2025 Georgia Milestones End-of-Grade (EOG) Assessment data from Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement.
Student Growth	8/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement.

Posted: August 31, 2026

I live in GH neighborhood and have sent 3 kids here and we are very pleased with the school overall. Many of the teachers are long tenured and happy to be at the school. The new principal is very engaged and we are high on him and the overall outlook is positive, as we see it.

Posted: August 31, 2026

Posted: July 22, 2026

Garden Hills Elementary is a wonderful school with caring teachers, a supportive administration, and a strong sense of community. I especially appreciate the school's commitment to meeting the needs of all learners while maintaining high expectations. The Dual Language Immersion and IB programs provide unique opportunities for students to grow academically and culturally. Most importantly, the staff truly cares about every child and works hard to create a safe, welcoming environment where students can thrive. I'm proud to be part of the Garden Hills community.

Posted: July 22, 2026

Posted: August 30, 2023

I had two students go through GHES, one K-5th and one Prek-5th. Both of my kids had a fantastic experience here. My oldest is now a senior and doing great. My youngest is in middle school and excelling. The youngest got to do the Spanish DLI program, and she has learned so much! If you have concerns, go tour the school. I don't believe 5/10 is an accurate representation of this beautiful learning community.

Posted: August 30, 2023

Posted: August 28, 2023

not sure how/why this school is a 5 out-of 10 rating, must be outdated. this school is filled with wonderful people that care so much about the kids there. the principal is so dedicated and personally involved with all the parents. the school is dual-immersion which is really great. our family is very happy there and couldn't really ask for anything more. very grateful for GHES.

Posted: October 9, 2022

There are some excellent teachers at this school. They are willing to accommodate ADHD children and really do seem to care and want to nurture the students. Academically I also saw my child grow, and while math is being taught in a way thats new to me, its working and theres plenty of learning going on.

Teachers communicate to you via email and SeeSaw so you can always reach them though it can take some time for them to get back to you.

As for community, thats where it falls way short. No sense of community at all and people are courteous but almost standoffish. Its not a welcoming warm community for parents but the kids are great and there are no bullies in the classrooms which is what matters in the end.

Posted: October 9, 2022

Posted: March 7, 2022

It was really bad. Hate this school

Posted: March 7, 2022

Posted: May 6, 2021

The school structure is old enough that my wife's grandmother attended here, but the excellence focus is growing as the demographics shift and parents have the means to invest in the school at a discount from private school tuition costs. The school as a whole may receive middling marks, but the DLI program is tops. Its been fun to watch our daughter becoming truly bi-lingual. She is also of mostly European descent (isn't it interesting what genetic testing can show you) and she's clearly colorblind racially, which bodes well for the future.

Posted: May 6, 2021

Posted: November 22, 2020

Truly a diamond in the rough. Given the demographics at the school (nearly 1/2 are English as a 2nd language, nearly 70% of students qualify for free lunch) and the consistent underfunding of public schools by the state - GHES is doing an excellent job. The make up of the student body is like it was cast from a movie script. Almost 30% white, 30% hispanic, 30% black, 10% other. This means that there's enough of 'everyone' to have to be respectful of differences. There is no 'standard'. Of course people migrate to those most similar to them, but the similarities have more to do with interests vs. ethnicity (i.e. the kids who like video games find each other, the kids who like sports find each other, etc) and in their group of similar interests they'll also find someone who looks like them. Test scores aren't the greatest but that doesn't tell the story of the school. The improvements each class makes aren't shown in stagnant scores. The school does an excellent job helping all kids try to rise and do better. They encourage the other students to encourage and cheer each other on. The financial make up of the school is also a plus. The community has a good population of wealthy people whose children attend the school in addition to the significant population of lower income households. This is important because the way public schools operate now A SIGNIFICANT portion of funding comes from the school foundation and PTAs. You can not underestimate the value of having parents who have financial means supporting the school. The teachers and principal all do a great job in what they're dealt. There are, of course, a few teachers that you wonder why they're there - but overall they truly care. ALL the teachers know ALL the children's names. During the pandemic APS is 100% virtual and each families experience is dependent on THEIR school and THEIR principal and THEIR teachers. I've been AMAZED at how well GHES is teaching during this time. My 3rd grader is following a lesson plan, the teachers keep him moving forward in learning, he's still taking Art, PE, Spanish and Music. It's not perfect - but the teachers are doing amazing in trying to keep the kids on task and learning. My gripes with GHES have more to deal with APS and school guidelines overall - not specific to GHES. The whole 'zero tolerance' policy is crap - because zero tolerance means zero critical thinking. And means the kid defending themselves gets caught and punished while the aggressor doesn't.

Posted: November 22, 2020

Posted: July 4, 2019

Over all this school has some endearing qualities. A smallish but sound parent support group that really does try. The students are good kids. The facility has some bright spots. The facilities could be better. Then you look to the leadership and drive to move forward in a productive way....no go. The principal at this school is weak and lacks the ability to see this school to where it should be. If it wasnt for the lack of strong leadership Garden Hills could be a 7 rated school easily in the next few years. With the IB and dual emersion program tacking shape only to be smothered by the lack of leadership and common sense by the principal.

Posted: July 4, 2019

Some of the teacher are great. However, due to a ridiculously poor principal there has been a mass exodus of the best teachers and supporting staff over the past two years.....

Posted: July 4, 2019

Again objective to my experience the leadership at the top seems to turn their backs to anything they dont want to deal with. This is a quality that resonates down from the principal and is obviously not a positive and is pointing the school in the wrong direction.

Posted: July 4, 2019

The Principal has some good supporting staff but overall seems to find the role at the top the end all say all. Thus rendering the school helpless. The over all leadership is not moving in the right direction due to the principal to put it nicely.

Posted: July 4, 2019

The principal will turn a blind eye and is unwilling to help. (However, go to the APS website and fill out a bulling form. This will cause any principal to have to deal with it by state law.)

Posted: March 20, 2019

Some teachers are indifferent about it. One teacher threw away the homework of kids who were out sick. In some ways, it is not stressed but in other ways kids lose behavior status for not completing it.

Posted: March 20, 2019

Depends on the teacher. Some are really great and others shouldnt be teaching.

Posted: March 20, 2019

The IB curriculum is inconsistently communicated/taught by different teachers.

Posted: March 20, 2019

There are communication issues. The general morale of the school is low. Many parents feel ignored.

Posted: March 20, 2019

It happens among parents and students. They teach about it, but dont effectively prevent it.

Posted: March 20, 2019

Disappointing. The school atmosphere has changed in recent years.

Posted: February 13, 2018

My son is in kindergarten, sometimes there is homework and other days there are not.
Homework is frequently not checked and is just left in the folder.

Posted: February 13, 2018

I enjoy Ryan's teacher, however they say they need help and do not get back with time and information to help

Posted: February 13, 2018

I can not tolerate or have the energy for Ryan's office staff.
They are unorganized and never on the same page.
I can not express my distaste for the level of harassment that they place you through to place your child in public school.
When asked for assistance with the millions of information they want you to provide they have no answer or help.

Posted: February 13, 2018

I am displeased with this school and will be making sure that I take action so that other hard working parents are not harassed like how i have been.

Posted: October 27, 2017

We drive from another school zone to attend Garden Hills. It is a special, diverse and wonderful place that even on the most frustrating traffic days is worth the drive.

Posted: June 18, 2017

Our son completed the PreK program at Garden Hills and will be starting Dual Immersion kindergarten this fall. We could not be more pleased with the amazing teachers and engaged leadership at Garden Hills.

Posted: June 18, 2017

Posted: January 25, 2017

My child is in the Pre-K program at GHES and has had a wonderful year. She loves school and has been on several fun field trips. Her teacher is engaging and always lets us know what they what she is doing in class. She keeps us involved by sending pics of our kids learning during the school day =). I have been super impressed with my child's academic growth as well. She reading emergent level texts like Bob books and Dr.Seuss books independently and knows almost 100 sight words.

We have since purchased property in the North Atlanta district so that she could stay at Garden Hills. I am super excited about her matriculation at GH and beginning the dual-immersion program that is being offered. Its in its 3rd year and they are even promising to extend this through high school. This means my kid will graduate with an International Bachelorette Diploma with a seal of biliteracy.

We love it here!

Posted: January 25, 2017

Not that I have experienced bullying. I know the counselor provides anti-bullying courses.

Posted: January 25, 2017

I know Garden Hills offers a gifted program, special ed push-in, special ed paras, EIP Dual-Immersion and ESOL support.

Posted: January 25, 2017

Mr. Usher has left a strong and effective legacy. Stacey Abbott was selected by a group of parents and teachers from the school and we have much faith that she will continue to put the students at GH first in the same way Mr. Usher had.

Posted: January 25, 2017

I think the IB programme really helps the students develop these skills. The teachers are great role models in these respects and place much value and importance in developing these attitude in their students.

Posted: January 25, 2017

All the teachers here have advanced degrees and endorsements of all sorts.

Posted: January 25, 2017

The superintendent has encouraged homework. Homework started in the second half of Pre-K and continues through 5th.

Posted: September 6, 2016

We are in our second year at GHES (this year with a third grader and kindergartner) and we come all the way from SE Atlanta via admin transfer. Why? This school is a hidden gem and carries the banner for elementary International Baccalaureate in Atlanta. Parents and the community are super involved and invested. It is majority Hispanic / ESOL but those challenges are met by an amazing amount of resources and the best teachers and administrators in APS. In return, my children get real-world diversity in a challenging educational setting, and my kindergartner is in a dual-language immersion program that will render her fluently bilingual if she stays the course throughout her school years. (I'm a bit jealous of that.)

Posted: September 6, 2016

Posted: April 12, 2016

I love the teachers at Garden Hills and feel many of them work very hard with the children. My student will be graduating from this school soon and I have had very few complaints! I have seen administration come and go, and I can say from my experience, that some used to be more concerned with the general population of the school, and not only the "neighborhood" kids and parents. Also they were more approachable and knowledgeable about what was actually going on in the classrooms. But overall, I have been happy with my child's experience.

Posted: October 7, 2015

I'd venture to say that if teaching was a juggling contest with each ball representing a different reading or math level, Garden Hills teachers could juggle the most balls without dropping a single one! GHES is in an urban area, and as with most public schools in this setting, there is a wide range of socio-economic conditions among the student body. It's an absolute necessity that the teachers at GHES have the skills to work with this broad range of abilities. They use tools such as Star Math and Accelerated Reader to take frequent assessments throughout the year, and these help identify the course of action for EACH STUDENT. Some are great at math, but struggle in reading, and vice-versa. Our teachers are trained to identify learning disabilities and take a firm course of action that suits EACH STUDENT. That ability to differentiate is mastered by every teacher at Garden Hills and administered with dedication to success.

Posted: October 7, 2015

In talking with friends who have children in other local schools, I feel like Garden Hills teachers give a little more homework than most. That being said, I think it's important to teach the children good time-management skills at a young age, because the amount of work students do in middle school and high school these days requires a stamina that can't be developed overnight. The amount is not overbearing, and for the most part there is no homework given over school vacations except for extra credit packets. I've been happy with the homework aspect at GHES.

Posted: October 7, 2015

This is our sixth year at Garden Hills with our two daughters. There has not been a single day in those six years that our children have wanted to stay home from school! The teachers at the school are highly-trained and skilled to teach at all levels, and equally as important to me, they "see" each and every child. They know the children's names, they celebrate in their successes, they push them to do their best, and support them when they struggle. The teachers are very accessible, and are happy to get together with you and make a plan if there are concerns. I've been active with the PTA for several years, and it is a thrill to be part of the energy our Principal Tommy Usher brings- he is proactive, and has an incredibly positive, tireless spirit that the parents and teachers rally around. We have made great friends in the other GHES parents that share our dedication to seeing Mr. Usher's vision through, with our children's success and sense of well-being at the center of it all. It has just been a great pleasure to be a part of the school family and watch our girls grow into confident, happy, well-educated individuals! We'll be forever grateful for this time in our lives!

Posted: September 13, 2015

My son is a 3rd grader at Garden HIlls Elementary. I am blown away by how welcoming the teachers, parents, and administration was to me and my son since day one. The school is very diverse with over 39 nationalities represented. Garden HIlls was the first IB school in Atlanta Public Schools and is still used as a model for other IB schools. Tommy Usher, school principal is very approachable and welcoming. He truly loves the school and the kids in it. Any parent that attends this school should get involved and get to know the parents and the teachers and you will find a world full of love and compassion. The school has just implemented a dual immersion program this school year. My son comes home every day excited about his teachers and his gifted class. He is very happy here. I believe that Garden Hills is reflective of the global community in which we live. Teachers have been trained in the Orton Gillingham method and Saxon math is used as well. I am also very happy with the student teacher ratio. My son's foreign language teacher Ms. Delgado is amazing and his 3rd grade teacher Ms. J. Brooks is phenomenal. I couldn't be happier. I can't believe this is a public school. The school has a foundation that raises additional money to support curriculum and instruction for teachers and students that the stretched school system cannot provide. 5 stars for Garden Hills!! I went to a brick laying ceremony today. Additional funds were raised to support the learning gardens on campus. Garden HIlls represents what all schools should endeavor to be: inclusive, diverse, and progressive with involved parents and a caring community.

Posted: August 19, 2015

Our daughter is now in 4th grade and has been attending Garden Hills since she was in Kindergarten. We have been exceptionally pleased with every teacher she has had since Kindergarten. They have been able to challenge her when she needs more, and they have been able to identify areas of weakness and given the enrichment she has needed to excel in those areas. Our daughter is confident and has developed a love of learning which is a direct result of the investment relationally. emotionally and academically by her teachers.

Posted: August 19, 2015

We have a fourth grade daughter at Garden Hills. We also have older children. We have been very pleased with our experience at Garden Hills because the teachers and staff are truly amazing. The families at our school are authentically invested in our school and work to support our teachers and staff making it a rich environment for children to learn. Our administration is the best I have experienced in any of our schools. They work to provide quality programming and training for our teachers and they also stay on top of the best practices for learning environments. We have not only been approved for a state funded PreK program at Garden Hills, but we have also been approved to offer the highly acclaimed Dual Language Immersion program. Garden Hills offers it in Spanish, and we have begun our new 2015/2016 school year with two Kindergarten classes of DLI students. I wish I had a Kindergartner! These students will move up each year and remain in the program while a new Kindergarten class will start each year in the DLI program. Studies show such positive results in students who matriculate in a DLI program. It also works very well with our International Baccalaureate curriculum. We have Eureka Math and many teachers are now trained in the Orton Gillingham reading program. These are just a few examples of how our principal has enriched the teaching and learning at Garden Hills to make it one of the leaders in education. Our teachers are very happy, which means our children are happy, which means our families are happy. I am so thankful to have such an excellent choice for schools right here in our neighborhood!

Posted: April 28, 2015

This year my daughter entered kindergarten at GHES and I can say it has been the best year of her life and our lives. Her teacher is amazing- everyday she comes home excited and happy telling me about something new she learned that day. The principal and faculty are accessible, warm and caring. I have found many new friends within the active, caring parents of this school. The staff and parents help make this school a place I literally have to hold my daughter from running out the door to every morning- weekends included. We are excited for 1st grade and my son cannot wait to join his sister in the future! A place of many friends and caring adults- all in a beautiful building and an amazing neighborhood! thank you, Garden Hills!!!

Posted: August 9, 2014

My child is starting his 4th grade year and has been here since kindergarten. I am so in love with this amazing place. The students- diverse, smart, full of hugs and love their teachers. The faculty and staff- hard working, giving, caring and proud. From ESOL to Challenge- everyone gives 110%. The principal and AP- a team that supports their staff, does not micromanage, takes education seriously, and constantly strives to improve any and all areas. The parents- a tight knit community who push their school to be the best it can be for their children. Our test scores have improved greatly and that is due to everyone mentioned here. GHES is strong, proud, and you are LUCKY if you get to attend here.

Posted: April 16, 2014

My son is in the 4th grade at Garden Hills Elementary School. We have been so pleased with his experience right from the start in Kindergarten. The school is led by a very inspirational and visionary principal coupled by dedicated, caring, hardworking teachers. We feel very fortunate to have such a jewel in our neighborhood.

Posted: September 11, 2013

Garden hills is a great school. Teachers work really hard!! Principle is very nice. My son loves it.

Posted: August 20, 2012

The school is amazing. The teachers are beyond hands on and the students exceed their goals every year. I would recommend this school because as a parent I see the amazing improvements in my daughter and the schools diversity is balanced.

Posted: June 3, 2012

The school welcomed my son with open arms and the principal is A++++. She really cares about the kids and is involved with the PTA to make sure our school is the best for our children. THe only thing lacking is more parent involvement! the PTA works hard and they are a few in number considering the amount of students the school has. I encourage everyone to get involved even if it is once a month or every two months- they need all the help they can get.

#	Name	Type	City	State	Overall Rating	Distance
1	Garden Hills	Condominium/Townhouse	Atlanta	GA		0.2 mi
2	Heritage Farms	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Marietta	GA		16.3 mi

Base	Distance
Dobbins ARB	9.8 mi.
Fort Gillem	14.7 mi.

Garden Hills Elementary School

Atlanta, GA 30305

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Garden Hills Elementary School

Atlanta, GA 30305

School Ratings

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