Summary
Dodgen Middle School in Marietta, GA, is a large, high-performing public school serving 1,178 students in grades 6 through 8 within the Cobb County School District, and it consistently ranks among the very best middle schools in the state.
Dodgen is an academic powerhouse, ranking #7 out of 578 Georgia middle schools (99th percentile) and earning a 5-star rating. This is not a one-year fluke—the school has held a top-2% statewide ranking every year for the past decade, with its rank fluctuating only between #3 and #17. Its greatest strength is mathematics, where proficiency rates range from 77% to 89% across grades 6-8—roughly 30-35 points above the district average and nearly double the state average. Impressively, 100% of students taking the Algebra I End-of-Course exam scored proficient. The school also excels in keeping students engaged, with a chronic absenteeism rate of just 6.3%, less than half the district rate (14.2%) and a third of the state rate (17.7%). Dodgen achieves strong results across all student subgroups, ranking in the 96th percentile or higher for African American, Hispanic, White, and Special Education students, and in the 99th percentile for both male and female students.
Dodgen is part of an exceptional "East Cobb" cluster of schools, where Dickerson Middle School (#5) and Hightower Trail Middle School (#11) also rank in the top 2% of the state, creating a highly competitive and supportive academic environment. The contrast with nearby schools is stark—East Cobb Middle School, just over 4 miles away, ranks in the 52nd percentile with math proficiency in the 30s. While Dodgen's 8th-grade science proficiency (64%) is its lowest subject score, it still nearly doubles the state average (29.7%). Notably, Dodgen achieves these results with efficient spending ($13,659 per student), less than several lower-performing peers, and continues to improve—8th-grade math proficiency rose from 80.1% to 88.8% in just one year.
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