The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in Science. The lowest is 22% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cooper-carver Elementary School
Cooper-Carver Elementary School is a small elementary school in Dawson, Georgia, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Terrell County, a rural county-seat community in the peanut-farming region of southwest Georgia. The school enrolls students from a close-knit agricultural and services-oriented area where the economy now centers on peanut processing and agribusiness rather than row-crop farming. Families in the school's catchment live in a town anchored by its historic downtown courthouse square, about a half-hour from the regional hub of Albany.
The school's student body reflects deep economic hardship. Every student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a marker that indicates substantially constrained family resources across the entire population. The racial composition is predominantly African American, with smaller numbers of white students, Hispanic students, and others. This demographic profile is typical of rural Georgia schools in economically distressed areas.
The most striking feature of Cooper-Carver's data is the proficiency gap in state-tested subjects. In English language arts, the school's overall proficiency rate across tested grades falls below state norms. In mathematics, performance is markedly low: fewer than one in five students in grade three and grade four met proficiency, and in grade five the rate remained similarly constrained. In science, which tests only grade five, proficiency was below the level seen in English language arts. These results hold steady with no prior-year trend data available for comparison, meaning parents cannot discern whether performance is improving, declining, or static.
A parent evaluating this school should understand that the proficiency results signal students are not reaching grade-level mastery in core academic subjects at rates the state considers adequate. The gap appears widest in mathematics, particularly in the intermediate elementary grades. A parent may want to look into this further with the school itself: whether specific interventions are underway, what the school's improvement trajectory looks like, and what support is available for students who are not yet proficient. The data does not explain why; low proficiency in elementary schools serving entirely low-income populations often reflects cumulative effects of out-of-school factors, staffing capacity, and instructional intensity, among other variables. The school's answers to those questions matter.
The Terrell County School District has undertaken a visible capital-facilities refresh, including renovation and upgrades to the middle and high school campuses, a new track and field complex, and parking improvements. The district also operates as a charter system under Georgia law, which grants flexibility over calendar, school day, and curriculum design. Terrell High School has posted documented gains on the state's College and Career Ready Performance Index, though that success is at the secondary level and does not directly predict elementary outcomes.
Cooper-Carver is not a growth-market school. Terrell County is not expanding; housing values are modest, and the county and town are stable rather than booming. The school serves an economically vulnerable population in a rural, close-knit setting. For a family considering this school, the profile is one of a school with substantial academic challenges in the elementary grades, serving an entirely low-income population, in a small agricultural town. The question for a prospective family is whether the school's current or planned interventions align with their child's needs and whether the local support ecosystem and school's instructional response to low proficiency are adequate.
See more original research from School Decision →