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What's the biggest difference between Dowell Elementary School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
898
Elementary
DISTRICT 691 · STATE 605
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·COBB COUNTY·NCES 130129002069
Dowell Elementary School
2121 W Sandtown Rd SW, Marietta, GA 30064 · (678) 594-8059 · Cobb County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL898 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.0:1
75 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.0:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
785 students
DISTRICT 56% · STATE 74%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 30 | 3% |
| Kindergarten | 128 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 130 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 139 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 155 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 142 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 174 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (128) is 26% smaller than its 5th grade class (174).
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on published attendance-zone data from Cobb County. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Georgia Milestones 2024-25 . % Proficient or DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
35.8%
GA avg 40.1% . -1.0pp since 2021
Math
32.9%
GA avg 44.6% . -2.0pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 36 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Georgia schools, those numbers are about 40 and 45. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2021, while math scores are down about 2 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 35.8% | 32.9% |
| 2023-24 | 35.9% | 31.5% |
| 2022-23 | 35.6% | 31.4% |
| 2021-22 | 36.8% | 34.9% |
% 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
33.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.2%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 33% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Dowell Elementary School
Dowell Elementary School's state test result (33.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dowell Elementary School this school | 898 | 87.4% | 33.4% |
| Jenkins Elementary School Lawrenceville | 775 | 82.8% | 31.6% |
| Cedar Hill Elementary School Lawrenceville | 896 | 82.1% | 31.3% |
| New Hampstead K-8 School Bloomingdale | 1,118 | 78.5% | 31.0% |
| Simonton Elementary School Lawrenceville | 702 | 79.5% | 33.4% |
| Winn Holt Elementary School Lawrenceville | 1,046 | 80.3% | 35.3% |
Matched among Georgia elementary 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 Dowell Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In Cobb County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.4% | #712 of 1,208 | #51 of 72 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.9% | #790 of 1,215 ▲ 11 | #56 of 72 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 35.8% | #567 of 1,215 ▲ 50 | #47 of 72 ▲ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.5pp | #315 of 1,183 | #29 of 72 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 898 | #140 of 1,324 | #11 of 78 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.0:1 | #278 of 1,301 | #38 of 77 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 67.9% | #191 of 1,301 | #23 of 77 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.4% | #620 of 1,312 | #26 of 78 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.8% | #648 of 854 | #49 of 57 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
898
+6 (+1%) vs 2020
+9% since 1990-91, when it was 822
Student : Teacher
12.0:1
was 12.4:1
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 | 898 | 74.7 | 12.0:1 | 87% (785) |
| 2023-24 | 880 | 75.6 | 11.6:1 | 72% (631) |
| 2022-23 | 898 | 69.6 | 12.9:1 | 59% (531) |
| 2020-21 | 892 | 72 | 12.4:1 | 56% (497) |
| 2017-18 | 964 | 70.5 | 13.7:1 | 65% (628) |
| 2015-16 | 1,010 | 65 | 15.5:1 | 71% (719) |
| 2010-11 | 976 | 72 | 13.6:1 | 65% (639) |
| 2000-01 | 876 | 62 | 14.1:1 | 18% (160) |
| 1990-91 | 822 | 39 | 21.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dowell Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (964 to 898); teachers up 6% (70.5 to 74.7).
About Dowell Elementary School
Dowell Elementary School operates as a mid-sized elementary school in Marietta, Georgia. The school covers pre-K through 5 and reported 898 students in 2024-25. The school is 48% above the average for elementary schools in Georgia.
Cobb County includes 110 schools. Together they enroll 105,738 students.
The largest group at Dowell Elementary School is Hispanic students, at 42%. It is also 35% Black, 14% White, 5% multiracial, and 3% Asian. For comparison, the population of Cobb County is roughly 15% Hispanic. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Dowell Elementary School scores 68%.
Dowell Elementary School lists 74.7 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 12.0 students per teacher. Across elementary schools in Georgia, the average ratio is 13.3:1. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 87% of the student body. The gap from the 53% average for public schools in Cobb County is 34 points.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate across its state test results with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Dowell Elementary School, the prediction is 32.2% and the result is 33.4%.
The county, Cobb County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to about $102,738, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 51% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. The county's public schools total 129, with about 116,609 students.
Cheatham Hill Elementary School, about 1.5 miles away, is the closest public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Dowell Elementary School ranks 7th in a group of 9 nearby schools.
Dowell Elementary School is coded as Suburb: Large in federal locale data.
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 892 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 898.
This community page is for conversations about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Cobb County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
775,208
Census ACS
Median income
$102,738
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
51%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
129
116,609 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Cobb County
- Campbell High SchoolHigh · 3,085 students
- Osborne High SchoolHigh · 2,790 students
- Walton High SchoolHigh · 2,705 students
- Pebblebrook High SchoolHigh · 2,574 students
- North Cobb High SchoolHigh · 2,463 students
- Wheeler High SchoolHigh · 2,401 students
Other schools in Marietta
- Osborne High SchoolHigh · 2,790 students
- Walton High SchoolHigh · 2,705 students
- Marietta High SchoolHigh · 2,526 students
- Wheeler High SchoolHigh · 2,401 students
- Lassiter High SchoolHigh · 2,005 students
- Pope High SchoolHigh · 1,793 students
Other Dowell Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Dowell Elementary. Dowell Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Dowell ElementaryLusby, MD · 541 students
Nearby schools
- Cheatham Hill Elementary School1.5 mi · 1,021
- Smitha Middle School1.6 mi · 866
- Hollydale Elementary School1.9 mi · 526
- Lovinggood Middle School2.4 mi · 1,209
- Hillgrove High School2.5 mi · 2,282
- McEachern High School2.6 mi · 2,175
Frequently asked questions
About Dowell Elementary SchoolHow large is Dowell Elementary School?
Dowell Elementary School enrolls approximately 898 students in grades PK-05.
Is Dowell Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Dowell Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Dowell Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Dowell Elementary School is approximately 12.0:1 (75 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Dowell Elementary School?
At Dowell Elementary School, the student body is approximately 14% White, 42% Hispanic, 35% Black, 3% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Dowell Elementary School public or private?
Dowell Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Cobb County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.