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What's one community event at Panola Way Elementary School more people should show up to?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
550
Elementary
DISTRICT 556 · STATE 605
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DEKALB COUNTY·NCES 130174001998
Panola Way Elementary School
2170 Panola Way Ct, Lithonia, GA 30058 · (678) 676-9302 · DeKalb County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL550 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Georgia public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- BThree-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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
550 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 | 43 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 80 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 82 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 91 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 85 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 83 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (80) is 7% smaller than its 5th grade class (86).
Student demographics
26%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
11.7%
GA avg 40.1% . -1.1pp since 2021
Math
17.3%
GA avg 44.6% . +9.5pp since 2021
What this means: On the Georgia Milestones, Georgia's statewide test, about 12 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 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 1 points since 2021, while math scores are up about 9 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 11.7% | 17.3% |
| 2023-24 | 14.5% | 9.9% |
| 2022-23 | 16.1% | 10.6% |
| 2021-22 | 12.8% | 7.8% |
% 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
13.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.7%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-12.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 13% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 26% 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 Panola Way Elementary School
Panola Way Elementary School's state test result (13.2% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panola Way Elementary School this school | 550 | 100.0% | 13.2% |
| Harper-Archer Elementary School Atlanta | 545 | 100.0% | 12.7% |
| Redan Elementary School Lithonia | 525 | 100.0% | 18.9% |
| Rock Chapel Elementary School Lithonia | 524 | 100.0% | 21.8% |
| Cedar Grove Elementary School Ellenwood | 531 | 100.0% | 19.4% |
| Deer Chase Elementary School Hephzibah | 555 | 100.0% | 19.9% |
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 Panola Way Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In DeKalb County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 13.2% | #1,169 of 1,208 | #83 of 88 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.3% | #1,117 of 1,215 ▲ 79 | #72 of 88 ▲ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 11.7% | #1,181 of 1,215 ▼ 37 | #86 of 88 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +4.2pp | #438 of 1,183 | #39 of 88 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 550 | #734 of 1,324 | #36 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.2:1 | #1,240 of 1,301 | #92 of 94 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.7% | #1,121 of 1,301 | #62 of 94 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 100% | #184 of 1,312 | #31 of 97 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -36.9% | #43 of 854 | #18 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
550
-127 (-19%) vs 2020
-50% since 1990-91, when it was 1,100
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
was 14.1:1
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 | 550 | 34 | 16.2:1 | 100% (550) |
| 2023-24 | 636 | 33.2 | 19.2:1 | 100% (636) |
| 2022-23 | 653 | 37.7 | 17.3:1 | 100% (653) |
| 2020-21 | 677 | 48 | 14.1:1 | 99% (671) |
| 2017-18 | 872 | 58.5 | 14.9:1 | 97% (848) |
| 2015-16 | 994 | 57 | 17.4:1 | 97% (968) |
| 2010-11 | 807 | 51 | 15.8:1 | 90% (725) |
| 2000-01 | 977 | 57 | 17.1:1 | 72% (704) |
| 1990-91 | 1,100 | 59 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Panola Way Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 37% (872 to 550); teachers down 42% (58.5 to 34).
About Panola Way Elementary School
Panola Way Elementary School, located in Lithonia, Georgia, is a medium-sized elementary school. The school counts 550 students across pre-K through 5.
District-wide, DeKalb County has 131 schools and 92,088 students.
The large majority of students at Panola Way Elementary School, 86%, are Black. Other reported shares: 9% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. DeKalb County's residents are about 51% Black, 35 points below the school's share. The chance that two students picked at random at Panola Way Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 26%.
The school has about 16.2 students per teacher and 34 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average ratio among elementary schools in Georgia is 13.3:1, lower than at this school. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. The rate at public schools in DeKalb County averages 77%, lower than here.
allk12 grades Panola Way Elementary School a D. The grade compares the school only with Georgia public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 13.2%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 25.7%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for DeKalb County show that median household income is about $80,644, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 47%, and about 10% of people live in poverty. Panola Way Elementary School is one of 154 public schools in DeKalb County, which together enroll about 102,960 students.
The school nearest to Panola Way Elementary School is Miller Grove Middle School, at a distance of about 0.9 miles. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Panola Way Elementary School is 8th among 9 schools close by.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Suburb: Large.
Federal counts put enrollment at 677 in 2020-21 and 550 in 2024-25, a 19% decrease. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 14.1:1; by 2024-25 it was 16.2:1.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Lithonia
- Lithonia High SchoolHigh · 1,547 students
- Martin Luther King- Jr. High SchoolHigh · 1,370 students
- Arabia Mountain High School - Academy of Engineering- MedicHigh · 1,224 students
- Miller Grove High SchoolHigh · 1,073 students
- Lithonia Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,062 students
- Flat Rock Elementary SchoolElementary · 977 students
Nearby schools
- Miller Grove Middle School0.9 mi · 625
- Marbut Elementary School1.0 mi · 427
- Redan Middle School1.1 mi · 623
- Miller Grove High School1.8 mi · 1,073
- Mary McLeod Bethune Middle School1.9 mi · 655
- Woodridge Elementary School2.0 mi · 444
Frequently asked questions
About Panola Way Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Panola Way Elementary School?
Panola Way Elementary School enrolls approximately 550 students in grades PK-05.
Is Panola Way Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Panola Way Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Panola Way Elementary School have?
Panola Way Elementary School employs 34 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.2:1.
How diverse is Panola Way Elementary School?
Panola Way Elementary School reports a student body of 1% White, 9% Hispanic, 86% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Panola Way Elementary School?
Panola Way Elementary School is overseen by DeKalb County in DeKalb County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.