The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Terrell Middle School
Terrell Middle School sits in Dawson, a small county seat in southwest Georgia's peanut belt, and serves grades six through eight. The school enrolls a small cohort, with the student body almost entirely qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and predominantly Black, reflecting the economic and demographic profile of rural Terrell County. The building itself is part of a campus that has seen meaningful recent investment: the district completed interior renovations including new flooring across the middle and high school facilities, and a new track and field complex opened nearby to serve the school and the county, signaling that Terrell County Schools has made a deliberate push to upgrade long-aging buildings.
The academic picture here is marked by low proficiency across tested subjects. In English language arts, fewer than a quarter of students met proficiency standards schoolwide. Mathematics proficiency was lower still, with performance ranging sharply by grade: sixth graders reached low double digits, seventh graders fell to single digits, and eighth graders rebounded to the upper teens. Science and social studies proficiency at eighth grade were in single digits. These are flat results with no prior year available for comparison, so the trend direction is unknown. A parent should look into what supports the school is putting in place to address these gaps, and whether there are plans to track progress over the coming year.
Terrell Middle School carries no state testing data for grades six and seven in science or social studies, because Georgia's End of Grade assessments test those subjects only in eighth grade. The school serves all three middle grades, and data limitations mean a complete picture of achievement growth across the span is not available from state testing alone.
The school operates as part of Terrell County School System, which holds charter status under Georgia law. This gives the district flexibility in calendar, curriculum, and day structure that a traditional public school district does not have. The high school in the district earned a Platinum designation on Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index in recent years, driven by meaningful gains, which suggests that the system as a whole has upward momentum, though that progress has not yet shown at the middle school level.
Housing in the area is affordable, with home values well below state and national medians, and rental costs modest relative to household income. The community is not in a growth phase; Terrell County has faced population decline and has seen its economy shift from agriculture to services and manufacturing. The county is home to peanut processing and the USDA National Peanut Research Laboratory, anchors that provide stable if limited employment. Families considering this school are typically rooted in or relocating to a rural, economically modest setting with a close-knit town feel.
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