The Jackson County School System is now the top-ranked school system inside Jackson County, and second in the Athens area. JCSS also ranks inside the top 10 percent of all school systems in the state of Georgia, according to rankings released by Niche.com. 

The rankings released Friday show the continuous improvement occurring inside the Jackson County School System, which has seen substantial increases in state-mandated test scores and Advanced Placement scores. 

Niche.com rankings combined data sets, user surveys and statistical algorithms to grade and rank schools and school systems. 

Among the Niche.com rankings, West Jackson Elementary School, East Jackson Elementary School and Gum Springs Elementary School were ranked as the top three Pre-K through fifth grade schools within the county.