1
Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Nickajack Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,260
Elementary
DISTRICT 691 · STATE 605
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·COBB COUNTY·NCES 130129002247
Nickajack Elementary School
4555 Mavell Rd SE, Smyrna, GA 30082 · (678) 842-5814 · Cobb County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,260 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
83 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.0:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
44%
551 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 | 21 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 207 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 221 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 206 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 193 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 193 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 219 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (207) is 5% smaller than its 5th grade class (219).
Student demographics
65%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
Test scores
Georgia Milestones 2024-25 . % Proficient or DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
45.4%
GA avg 40.1% . -5.0pp since 2021
Math
46.3%
GA avg 44.6% . -4.0pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 46 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Georgia schools, those numbers are about 40 and 45. Reading and writing scores are down about 5 points since 2021, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 45.4% | 46.3% |
| 2023-24 | 51.4% | 48.3% |
| 2022-23 | 48.4% | 46.3% |
| 2021-22 | 50.4% | 50.4% |
% 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
45.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.7%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 55% 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 Nickajack Elementary School
Nickajack Elementary School's state test result (45.6% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickajack Elementary School this school | 1,260 | 43.7% | 45.6% |
| WC Abney Elementary Dallas | 1,324 | 48.7% | 41.5% |
| Newton County Theme School at Ficquett Covington | 1,095 | 52.2% | 66.1% |
| Charles R. Drew Charter School Atlanta | 961 | 38.0% | 69.2% |
| Harbins Elementary School Dacula | 1,320 | 55.6% | 48.4% |
| Cooper Elementary School Loganville | 1,520 | 57.6% | 50.8% |
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 Nickajack Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In Cobb County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 45.6% | #424 of 1,208 | #35 of 72 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.3% | #483 of 1,215 ▼ 35 | #35 of 72 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.4% | #344 of 1,215 ▼ 52 | #31 of 72 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -4.5pp | #159 of 1,183 | #17 of 72 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,260 | #20 of 1,324 | #1 of 78 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.1:1 | #1,124 of 1,301 | #77 of 77 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.5% | #324 of 1,301 | #30 of 77 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.7% | #1,093 of 1,312 | #49 of 78 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +12.2% | #160 of 386 | #3 of 18 |
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
1,260
+129 (+11%) vs 2020
+111% since 2000-01, when it was 597
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
was 14.9:1
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 | 1,260 | 83.2 | 15.1:1 | 44% (551) |
| 2023-24 | 1,191 | 80.1 | 14.9:1 | 42% (504) |
| 2022-23 | 1,111 | 77.5 | 14.3:1 | 32% (359) |
| 2020-21 | 1,131 | 76 | 14.9:1 | 29% (326) |
| 2017-18 | 1,123 | 77.4 | 14.5:1 | 37% (418) |
| 2015-16 | 1,047 | 74 | 14.2:1 | 40% (420) |
| 2010-11 | 880 | 63 | 14.0:1 | 44% (386) |
| 2000-01 | 597 | 44 | 13.6:1 | 33% (196) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nickajack Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 12% (1,123 to 1,260); teachers up 7% (77.4 to 83.2).
About Nickajack Elementary School
In Smyrna, Georgia, part of Cobb County, Nickajack Elementary School is an elementary school. In all, 1,260 students attend the school in pre-K through 5. That is 108% larger than the average of about 605 students for elementary schools in Georgia.
Nickajack Elementary School is one school in a 110-school district, Cobb County, which enrolls 105,738 students.
More than half of enrollment at Nickajack Elementary School is Black: 53%. Next come 21% White, 12% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 5% Asian. The county population is about 27% Black. The diversity index for Nickajack Elementary School is 65%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
On staff are 83.2 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 15.1:1. Elementary schools in Georgia average 13.3:1, 1.8 fewer students per teacher than here. Nickajack Elementary School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 44%. On average, public schools in Cobb County report 53%.
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 Nickajack Elementary School, the prediction is 54.7% and the result is 45.6%.
In the surrounding county, Cobb County, the median household earns about $102,738 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 51%, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Cobb County has 129 public schools with about 116,609 students, including Nickajack Elementary School.
King Springs Elementary School is about 0.9 miles from Nickajack Elementary School, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Nickajack Elementary School is 4th among 9 schools close by.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over 4 years, enrollment increased by 129 students, from 1,131 to 1,260.
Nickajack Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. 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 Smyrna
- Campbell High SchoolHigh · 3,085 students
- Campbell Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,368 students
- King Springs Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,101 students
- Griffin Middle SchoolMiddle · 991 students
- Teasley Elementary SchoolElementary · 974 students
- Smyrna Elementary SchoolElementary · 870 students
Nearby schools
- King Springs Elementary School0.9 mi · 1,101
- Griffin Middle School0.9 mi · 991
- Betty Gray Middle School1.8 mi · 702
- Teasley Elementary School2.3 mi · 974
- Campbell Middle School2.3 mi · 1,368
- Lindley Middle School3.0 mi · 905
Frequently asked questions
About Nickajack Elementary SchoolHow large is Nickajack Elementary School?
Nickajack Elementary School enrolls approximately 1,260 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Nickajack Elementary School serve?
Nickajack Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Nickajack Elementary School?
Approximately 15.1:1 students per teacher at Nickajack Elementary School.
How diverse is Nickajack Elementary School?
Nickajack Elementary School reports a student body of 21% White, 12% Hispanic, 53% Black, 5% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Nickajack Elementary School in?
Nickajack Elementary School is part of Cobb County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.