1
Enrollment
1,543
Middle
DISTRICT 1,398 · STATE 763
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHEROKEE COUNTY·NCES 130111001970
Dean Rusk Middle School
2761 E Cherokee Dr, Canton, GA 30115 · (770) 704-1135 · Cherokee County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,543 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 72% of Georgia public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+Three-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
16.7:1
93 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.0:1 · STATE 14.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
30%
466 students
DISTRICT 37% · 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 | 525 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 512 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 506 | 33% |
Student demographics
54%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
55.6%
GA avg 40.1% . +3.1pp since 2021
Math
62.7%
GA avg 44.6% . +9.0pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 56 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 63 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 3 points since 2021, while math scores are up about 9 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 55.6% | 62.7% |
| 2023-24 | 54.0% | 60.5% |
| 2022-23 | 52.4% | 56.3% |
| 2021-22 | 52.5% | 53.7% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
58.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.7%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 59% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 62% typical for Georgia schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Georgia's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Dean Rusk Middle School
Dean Rusk Middle School's state test result (58.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dean Rusk Middle School this school | 1,543 | 30.2% | 58.6% |
| Mill Creek Middle School Woodstock | 1,476 | 31.5% | 57.0% |
| Richmond Hill Middle School Richmond Hill | 2,022 | 28.9% | 59.7% |
| Creekland Middle School Canton | 1,503 | 21.6% | 58.1% |
| North Forsyth Middle School Cumming | 1,164 | 29.2% | 46.8% |
| West Jackson Middle School Jefferson | 951 | 34.1% | 53.6% |
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 Dean Rusk Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In Cherokee County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.6% | #68 of 470 | #1 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 62.7% | #70 of 474 ▲ 2 | #2 of 7 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.6% | #66 of 474 ▲ 18 | #3 of 7 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.1pp | #165 of 465 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,543 | #19 of 487 | #3 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.7:1 | #422 of 471 | #5 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 53.5% | #263 of 471 | #5 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 30.2% | #435 of 479 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.5% | #134 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
1,543
+23 (+2%) vs 2020
+54% since 1990-91, when it was 999
Student : Teacher
16.7:1
was 16.9:1
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 | 1,543 | 92.5 | 16.7:1 | 30% (466) |
| 2023-24 | 1,483 | 90.8 | 16.3:1 | 32% (475) |
| 2022-23 | 1,473 | 97.3 | 15.1:1 | 23% (345) |
| 2020-21 | 1,520 | 90 | 16.9:1 | 24% (361) |
| 2017-18 | 1,520 | 92.7 | 16.4:1 | 25% (382) |
| 2015-16 | 931 | 56 | 16.6:1 | 26% (244) |
| 2010-11 | 833 | 59 | 14.1:1 | 26% (213) |
| 2000-01 | 939 | 57 | 16.5:1 | 7% (70) |
| 1990-91 | 999 | 44 | 22.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dean Rusk Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (1,520 to 1,543); teachers unchanged (92.7 to 92.5).
About Dean Rusk Middle School
Canton, Georgia, is home to Dean Rusk Middle School, a high-enrollment middle-grades school. It reported 1,543 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25. That compares with an average of about 763 students for middle schools in Georgia.
Cherokee County includes 37 schools. Together they enroll 42,031 students.
The student body at Dean Rusk Middle School is 65% White. Other reported shares: 18% Hispanic, 7% Black, 6% multiracial, and 4% Asian. Cherokee County's residents are about 76% White, 11 points above the school's share. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 54, compared with 70 nationally.
The school has 92.5 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 16.7 students per teacher. The average for middle schools in Georgia is 14.1:1, so this school has more students per teacher. The school reported 30% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25.
Dean Rusk Middle School holds a B+ allk12 Grade, placing it above 72% of Georgia public middle schools.
A school with Dean Rusk Middle School's lunch-eligibility share in Georgia is predicted to score 61.7%. Dean Rusk Middle School scores 58.6%, 3.1 points below that line.
In the wider Cherokee County area, the median household earns about $108,115 a year, about 41% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Dean Rusk Middle School shares Cherokee County with 37 other public schools.
Dean Rusk Middle School's closest public school neighbor is Hickory Flat Elementary School, about 0.2 miles away. Within five miles of Dean Rusk Middle School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Of 9 schools in the immediate area with test results, Dean Rusk Middle School ranks 5th on average proficiency.
In the federal locale system, Dean Rusk Middle School is coded Suburb: Large, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Dean Rusk Middle School had 1,520 students in 2020-21 and 1,543 in 2024-25, nearly the same.
This page is set up for the Dean Rusk Middle School community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Cherokee County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
281,032
Census ACS
Median income
$108,115
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
38
42,642 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Cherokee County
- Cherokee High SchoolHigh · 3,012 students
- Etowah High SchoolHigh · 2,393 students
- Creekview High SchoolHigh · 2,039 students
- Sequoyah High SchoolHigh · 2,021 students
- Woodstock High SchoolHigh · 2,006 students
- River Ridge High SchoolHigh · 1,902 students
Other schools in Canton
- Cherokee High SchoolHigh · 3,012 students
- Creekview High SchoolHigh · 2,039 students
- Sequoyah High SchoolHigh · 2,021 students
- Teasley Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,586 students
- Creekland Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,503 students
- William G. Hasty- Sr. Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,119 students
Nearby schools
- Hickory Flat Elementary School0.2 mi · 890
- Sequoyah High School0.4 mi · 2,021
- Mountain Road Elementary School2.6 mi · 370
- Indian Knoll Elementary2.8 mi · 881
- Holly Springs Elementary School2.8 mi · 831
- Avery Elementary School3.3 mi · 1,104
Frequently asked questions
About Dean Rusk Middle SchoolHow many students attend Dean Rusk Middle School?
Dean Rusk Middle School enrolls approximately 1,543 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Dean Rusk Middle School serve?
Dean Rusk Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Dean Rusk Middle School?
Approximately 16.7:1 students per teacher at Dean Rusk Middle School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Dean Rusk Middle School?
At Dean Rusk Middle School, the student body is approximately 65% White, 18% Hispanic, 7% Black, 4% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Dean Rusk Middle School public or private?
Dean Rusk Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Cherokee County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.