Dorsett Shoals Elementary School, Douglasville GA

Original Research by School Decision on Dorsett Shoals Elementary School

Dorsett Shoals Elementary is a small school in Douglasville serving about students from prekindergarten through fifth grade. The school sits in a growing suburban area west of Atlanta where families are moving into new single-family subdivisions and apartment developments. The neighborhood around the school is largely residential, away from Douglasville's walkable historic downtown, in the pattern of most schools across Douglas County.

The student body is racially and economically diverse. Black students make up the largest group, followed by Hispanic and white students in roughly equal measure, with a small Asian population and a handful of multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting lower household incomes in the immediate area despite the wider region's suburban growth.

Academic performance is below what the state averages on standardized tests. In the most recent state assessments, proficiency rates across mathematics, English language arts, and science all fell below expectation. In math, third-grade students showed somewhat higher attainment than fourth and fifth graders, while fifth-grade students in particular struggled, with performance in language arts and math both quite low in that grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade was somewhat more robust than either math or language arts, though still modest. Overall, the school's combined proficiency index places it above the midpoint among Douglas County's schools, but families should understand that absolute performance remains a soft spot. State assessment data is missing for younger grades because those grades are not tested under Georgia's testing regime.

The school has no graduation rate because it serves only elementary grades. Special education and English learner enrollment numbers were not available.

Douglasville itself is in the midst of significant growth. New residential subdivisions with active builders like D.R. Horton and Ashton Woods are under construction across the county, and the city is recruiting advanced manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and technology employers. This growth is raising both housing values and tax bases. The Douglas County School System recently won voter approval to continue the education sales tax that funds capital improvements, and announced a major replacement of Lithia Springs High School; the school board has also cut its millage rate repeatedly over the past decade, though rising property assessments mean families often still see higher tax bills. Families moving to the area should factor both the strong regional economic momentum and the ongoing housing and infrastructure churn into their decisions about where to settle.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 35% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 41% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 36% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 28% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 36% · ▼ 2 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 40% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 41% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grades 3-888%

School 88% · district not reported

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolDouglas County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income50%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income67%21 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income35%Higher-income64%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income42%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income33%11 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income30%Higher-income47%18 pp gap