Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet

Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet is a middle-grades school of compact scale in Albany, Georgia, one of the schools within Dougherty County, hosting 478 students in grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 763 students per school, that is 37% below typical.

Across the 22 schools in Dougherty County (13,241 students total), Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet shows that 86% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. Other groups include 6% Hispanic, 3% multiracial, 3% White, 2% Asian. By comparison, Dougherty County as a whole is about 71% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.5:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 14.1:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Around 96% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 27.7%; this one delivers 79.2%, a residual of +51.5 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Dougherty County indicate the typical household earns roughly $49,044 per year, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 19%. In all, Dougherty County runs 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 13,241 students), of which Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet is one.

Live Oak Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.8 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet at 1st of 9; the average score across the group is 27.3%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 20%: 594 students in 2018 compared to 478 in 2025. The White share of enrollment contracted from 8% to 3% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 17.0:1 in 2018 to 13.5:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.