Enrollment
363
Elementary
DISTRICT 488 · STATE 605
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WARE COUNTY·NCES 130543001403
Ruskin Elementary School
3550 Valdosta Hwy, Waycross, GA 31503 · (912) 287-2325 · Ware County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL363 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 83% of Georgia public elementary schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+Three-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
11.8:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
363 students
DISTRICT 89% · STATE 74%
Community
0
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 71 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 58 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 52 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 56 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 58 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (71) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (68).
Student demographics
67%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
36.1%
GA avg 40.1% . +1.5pp since 2021
Math
49.5%
GA avg 44.6% . +11.0pp 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 49 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 2 points since 2021, while math scores are up about 11 points.
Georgia Milestones results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 36.1% | 49.5% |
| 2023-24 | 38.1% | 46.5% |
| 2022-23 | 34.2% | 47.9% |
| 2021-22 | 34.6% | 38.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of GA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
44.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.7%
based on GA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+19.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 45% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 26% typical for Georgia schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 19 points, placing it in Georgia's top 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 Ruskin Elementary School
Ruskin Elementary School's state test result (44.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruskin Elementary School this school | 363 | 100.0% | 44.8% |
| North Brooks Elementary School Morven | 354 | 100.0% | 30.6% |
| Blythe Elementary School Blythe | 333 | 100.0% | 30.2% |
| Len Lastinger Elementary School Tifton | 448 | 100.0% | 48.4% |
| McBean Elementary School Hephzibah | 384 | 100.0% | 31.5% |
| Johnson Elementary School Columbus | 336 | 100.0% | 21.8% |
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 Ruskin Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Georgia | In Ware County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 44.8% | #447 of 1,208 | #2 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 49.5% | #418 of 1,215 ▲ 54 | #2 of 6 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.1% | #559 of 1,215 ▲ 13 | #2 of 6 ▲ 3 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.3pp | #298 of 1,183 | #4 of 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 363 | #1,159 of 1,324 | #5 of 6 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.8:1 | #241 of 1,301 | #2 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 67.2% | #212 of 1,301 | #1 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 100% | #426 of 1,312 | #1 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.5% | #246 of 854 | N/A |
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
363
-39 (-10%) vs 2020
-28% since 2000-01, when it was 505
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
was 11.8:1
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 | 363 | 30.7 | 11.8:1 | 100% (363) |
| 2023-24 | 374 | 32 | 11.7:1 | 100% (374) |
| 2022-23 | 379 | 31.5 | 12.0:1 | 94% (355) |
| 2020-21 | 402 | 34 | 11.8:1 | 98% (393) |
| 2017-18 | 451 | 33.2 | 13.6:1 | 90% (406) |
| 2015-16 | 426 | 34 | 12.5:1 | 90% (384) |
| 2010-11 | 467 | 33 | 14.2:1 | 83% (389) |
| 2000-01 | 505 | 30 | 16.8:1 | 80% (403) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ruskin Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (451 to 363); teachers down 8% (33.2 to 30.7).
About Ruskin Elementary School
Ruskin Elementary School is an elementary school in Waycross, Georgia, reachable at (912) 287-2325. It educates 363 students in kindergarten through 5. The school's enrollment is 40% smaller than the 605 average for elementary schools in Georgia.
The Ware County system has 9 schools and 5,920 students.
Ruskin Elementary School's enrollment has no majority group, and White students are the largest at 43%. Smaller groups are 33% Black, 17% Hispanic, and 6% multiracial. County-wide, 62% of Ware County residents are White. The chance that two students picked at random at Ruskin Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 67%.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 11.8:1, with 30.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. Among elementary schools in Georgia, the typical ratio is 13.3:1. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Ruskin Elementary School is 100%. The rate at public schools in Ware County averages 87%, lower than here.
Measured against Georgia public elementary schools, Ruskin Elementary School receives an A-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Ruskin Elementary School ranks in the top 10% of Georgia schools after adjusting test results for student poverty. Actual: 44.8%. Predicted: 25.7%. Difference: 19.1 points.
Ware County has about 35,976 residents, and median household income is about $47,448, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 14% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 17%. Federal data list 10 public schools in Ware County, with a combined enrollment of about 5,927.
The school nearest to Ruskin Elementary School is Ware County High School, at a distance of about 4.1 miles. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within ten miles. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Ruskin Elementary School is 3rd on average proficiency.
Federal data place Ruskin Elementary School in the Rural: Fringe locale, which means it is in rural territory close to an urban area.
The student count in 2024-25 was 363, 10% below the 402 of 2020-21.
If you have questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Ruskin Elementary School, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Ware County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
35,976
Census ACS
Median income
$47,448
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
14%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
10
5,927 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ware County
- Ware County High SchoolHigh · 1,633 students
- Wacona Elementary SchoolElementary · 885 students
- Ware County Middle SchoolMiddle · 752 students
- Waycross Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Center Elementary SchoolElementary · 470 students
- Williams Heights Elementary SchoolElementary · 436 students
Other schools in Waycross
- Ware County High SchoolHigh · 1,633 students
- Wacona Elementary SchoolElementary · 885 students
- Ware County Middle SchoolMiddle · 752 students
- Waycross Middle SchoolMiddle · 606 students
- Center Elementary SchoolElementary · 470 students
- Williams Heights Elementary SchoolElementary · 436 students
Other Ruskin Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named Ruskin Elementary. Ruskin Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 4.
- RUSKIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLRUSKIN, FL · 838 students
- Ruskin Elementary SchoolDayton, OH · 553 students
- Ruskin ElementarySan Jose, CA · 367 students
Nearby schools
- Ware County High School4.1 mi · 1,633
- Ware County Middle School6.0 mi · 752
- Williams Heights Elementary School6.7 mi · 436
- Waresboro Elementary School6.8 mi · 429
- Waycross Regional Youth Detention Center6.9 mi · 7
- Waycross Middle School7.0 mi · 606
Frequently asked questions
About Ruskin Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Ruskin Elementary School?
Ruskin Elementary School enrolls approximately 363 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Ruskin Elementary School serve?
Ruskin Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Ruskin Elementary School have?
Ruskin Elementary School employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.8:1.
How diverse is Ruskin Elementary School?
Ruskin Elementary School reports a student body of 43% White, 17% Hispanic, 33% Black, 0% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Ruskin Elementary School in?
Ruskin Elementary School is part of Ware County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.