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Which teacher or staff member at Hightower Elementary School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
604
Elementary
DISTRICT 556 · STATE 605
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DEKALB COUNTY·NCES 130174000704
Hightower Elementary School
4236 Tilly Mill Rd, Doraville, GA 30360 · (678) 676-7302 · DeKalb County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL604 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
89%
535 students
DISTRICT 82% · 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 | 22 | 4% |
| Kindergarten | 87 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 86 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 108 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 107 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 101 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 93 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (87) is 6% smaller than its 5th grade class (93).
Student demographics
16%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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 DeKalb County. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Georgia Milestones 2024-25 . % Proficient or DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
18.8%
GA avg 40.1% . +5.1pp since 2021
Math
24.9%
GA avg 44.6% . +10.1pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 19 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 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 5 points since 2021, while math scores are up about 10 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 18.8% | 24.9% |
| 2023-24 | 14.7% | 14.5% |
| 2022-23 | 14.8% | 17.2% |
| 2021-22 | 13.7% | 14.8% |
% 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
18.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.6%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% 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 Hightower Elementary School
Hightower Elementary School's state test result (18.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hightower Elementary School this school | 604 | 88.6% | 18.6% |
| Dresden Elementary School Chamblee | 606 | 92.4% | 10.4% |
| Blue Ridge Elementary School Dalton | 632 | 85.3% | 22.0% |
| Woodward Elementary School Brookhaven | 553 | 84.6% | 20.6% |
| Sugar Hill Elementary Gainesville | 685 | 84.8% | 28.1% |
| Montclair Elementary School Brookhaven | 590 | 83.6% | 14.5% |
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 Hightower Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In DeKalb County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.6% | #1,084 of 1,208 | #66 of 88 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 24.9% | #971 of 1,215 ▲ 163 | #51 of 88 ▲ 24 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 18.8% | #1,041 of 1,215 ▲ 102 | #60 of 88 ▲ 23 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +7.6pp | #233 of 1,183 | #17 of 88 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 604 | #590 of 1,324 | #27 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.3:1 | #355 of 1,301 | #33 of 94 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 15.7% | #1,236 of 1,301 | #83 of 94 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 88.6% | #600 of 1,312 | #52 of 97 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.0% | #217 of 854 | #34 of 73 |
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
604
-5 (-1%) vs 2020
+75% since 1990-91, when it was 345
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
was 11.3:1
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 | 604 | 49 | 12.3:1 | 89% (535) |
| 2023-24 | 619 | 46.3 | 13.4:1 | 98% (605) |
| 2022-23 | 619 | 46.3 | 13.4:1 | 93% (578) |
| 2020-21 | 609 | 54 | 11.3:1 | 71% (432) |
| 2017-18 | 765 | 59.2 | 12.9:1 | 91% (695) |
| 2015-16 | 844 | 59 | 14.3:1 | 95% (803) |
| 2010-11 | 654 | 42 | 15.6:1 | 95% (623) |
| 2000-01 | 439 | 31 | 14.2:1 | 83% (365) |
| 1990-91 | 345 | 26 | 13.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hightower Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (765 to 604); teachers down 17% (59.2 to 49).
About Hightower Elementary School
Hightower Elementary School serves students in Doraville, Georgia, as a mid-sized elementary school. The school runs pre-K through 5 and enrolls 604 students.
DeKalb County operates 131 schools. Combined enrollment is 92,088 students.
Roughly 92% of students at Hightower Elementary School are Hispanic. Other groups make up 3% Black and 3% Asian. County-wide, 11% of DeKalb County residents are Hispanic. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 16%.
The school's 49 full-time-equivalent teachers translate to a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.3:1. Elementary schools in Georgia average 13.3:1, 1.0 more students per teacher than here. Income data for the school show 89% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in DeKalb County average 77%.
Hightower Elementary School's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 18.6% is 13.0 points below the 31.6% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Looking at the county, DeKalb County, the median household earns about $80,644 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 47%, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. DeKalb County has 154 public schools with about 102,960 students, including Hightower Elementary School.
Among nearby public schools, Chesnut Elementary School is closest at about 1.1 miles. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The school's 18.6% average proficiency ranks 8th among 9 nearby schools.
In the federal locale system, Hightower Elementary 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.
Federal data show 609 students in 2020-21 and 604 in 2024-25, a difference of under 3%. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 11.3:1; by 2024-25 it was 12.3:1.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Hightower Elementary School. Members of the school community can share what they know.
DeKalb County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
765,351
Census ACS
Median income
$80,644
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
47%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
154
102,960 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in DeKalb County
- Lakeside High SchoolHigh · 2,234 students
- Dunwoody High SchoolHigh · 2,012 students
- Chamblee High SchoolHigh · 1,867 students
- Cross Keys High SchoolHigh · 1,748 students
- Sequoyah Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,713 students
- Tucker High SchoolHigh · 1,614 students
Other schools in Doraville
- Pleasantdale Elementary SchoolElementary · 794 students
- Oakcliff Elementary SchoolElementary · 621 students
- Evansdale Elementary SchoolElementary · 504 students
- Tapestry Public Charter SchoolHigh · 300 students
Other Hightower Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Hightower Elementary. Hightower Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Hightower Elementary SchoolPLANO, TX · 448 students
Nearby schools
- Chesnut Elementary School1.1 mi · 551
- Peachtree Middle School1.2 mi · 1,214
- Huntley Hills Elementary School1.3 mi · 507
- Doraville United Elementary School1.6 mi · 1,003
- Oakcliff Elementary School1.7 mi · 621
- Sequoyah Middle School2.0 mi · 1,713
Frequently asked questions
About Hightower Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Hightower Elementary School?
Hightower Elementary School enrolls approximately 604 students in grades PK-05.
Is Hightower Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Hightower Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Hightower Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Hightower Elementary School is approximately 12.3:1 (49 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Hightower Elementary School?
At Hightower Elementary School, the student body is approximately 1% White, 92% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Hightower Elementary School public or private?
Hightower Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by DeKalb County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.