Southwest DeKalb High School

Southwest DeKalb High School is a 9-12 campus of mid-tier scale in Decatur, Georgia, run under DeKalb County, enrolling 1,237 students in grades 9 through 12.

Southwest DeKalb High School is one of 131 schools operated by DeKalb County, a district that caters to 92,088 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Southwest DeKalb High School reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Black (94%); the rest comes out to 3% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 51% Black, putting the school's mix visibly more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Southwest DeKalb High School has 81 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 99% of students at Southwest DeKalb High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against DeKalb County (around 77%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Southwest DeKalb High School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 26.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 22.7%.

Around the school, community-level numbers for DeKalb County indicate the typical household earns roughly $80,644 per year, 47% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Southwest DeKalb High School is one of 154 public schools in DeKalb County (combined enrollment of about 102,960 students).

Rainbow Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Southwest DeKalb High School at 4th of 7; the average score across the group is 21.9%.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Southwest DeKalb High School has edged up 4%, going from 1,189 students in 2018 to 1,237 in 2025.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.