Dickerson Middle School

855 Woodlawn Drive Northeast

School District

Cobb County
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

public

School Map for Cobb County School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by student on February 14, 2025

Everyday feels worse than the last. We have a quiz every week and a test every other week. The school is allergic to creativity. As a 7th grader, I haven’t had a creative writing prompt for ELA the ENTIRE year. It’s FEBRUARY. I work two hours every night after I get home at FIVE in the evening. This is a SEVEN hour school day, mind you. No recess. 20 minute lunch. Also, just because students aren’t getting beaten to a pulp in the hall doesn’t mean bullying doesn’t exist. The mental and psychological damage I have gained from my time at this school is insane. It’s literally the middle school version of Harvard. They put an UNBELIEVABLE amount of stress on you, so much so that I have weekly mental breakdowns. The teachers don’t care, and are either too harsh or too lenient. If you chew gum or talk during class, guess what? The ONE time a week we get to have recess is revoked, and instead you must stay inside and write an essay about what you did wrong. Also, the social standards are insane and every movement I make is judged. If your child goes to this school, make sure you have the money to pay for therapy. In the two years (not even) I have been here, my friends and I have experienced anxiety, depression, mental breakdowns, suicidal thoughts, migraines, and panic attacks. This school is hell. Don’t think it’s a good school just because of the good test scores. Do you know where those scores come from? Nine to ten hours of work and studying every. Single. Day. Someone get me out of here.
Submitted by student on December 27, 2024

Dickerson is a really good school compared to other ones in the area. I will say it is incredibly academically rigorous. They offer lots of different courses to accommodate everyone but even with that its hard. As a student who has been in all advanced classes through middle school, if you are participating in an extracurricular you will have to stay up until am time to finish your work. In advanced courses I would say you have three hours of homework a night (including weekends) and on average 4-6 quizes a week and 1-2 tests every week. I will say there music programs are beyond amazing. Most teachers are great and try to be supportive but with the way the school day is set up its often hard to get support. As for bulling goes I have never seen physical harasement ever. Middle school boys will be boys but its nothing like I have heard of elsewhere. There are definitly groups and if you don't fit in you might get verbally teased and feel alone and made to feel isolated but that's to the extent of it. The rough academic side if 100% something I would consider before coming to dickerson. Most people I know, including myself are deppressed, sleep deprived and have anxiety due to it all. In sumary, dickerson middle is a good school with good music programs and clubs, but the academic rigor is taxing and mentally tolling for teens.
Submitted by parent on August 19, 2024

Dickerson was very valuable for our kids. They got them ready for a rigorous high school curriculum and my kids have excelled in high school. The area we live in can be competitive so as a parent, you need to lay off the pressure and be supportive but if you do that your kids will do well in my experience.
Submitted by parent on April 30, 2024

As a parent myself, I can say that this school does not provide nearly what I expect for my child to succeed.
Submitted by student on April 30, 2024

Terrible school and don’t recommend to send your kid here, and they will also give you a week OSS if you accidentally do something like kick a soccer and it hits the teacher when u miss.
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2023

The needs of kids with mental health special needs is abhorrent
Submitted by parent on October 17, 2023

Dickerson Middle School discriminates between students. Students that have english as second language (ESOL) are measured on the basis of a criteria that places too much importance on English. It does not take into consideration mathematics for AC Science criteria. I want to know that for a STEM subject like Science that creates engineers and doctors, why is Maths not part of the criteria? We want to develop doctors and engineers who are multi-lingual to meet the demands of a global workforce. We want the doctors to be able to understand different cultures and speak different languages to provide quality care. We want the future engineers to speak to be able to understand demands of customers from diverse backgrounds to create solutions that are inclusive. But, this is racism happening at school level, when ESOL students are not allowed to get into advanced classes because they scored 1058 in reading instead of 1100, or 80% in IOWA instead of 83%. All the other criteria of gifted identified, presidential excellence, A+ grade point average does not help to get ESOL students into advance science classes.
Submitted by parent on August 02, 2023

It’s a reasonably good school academically but, like most of the district, it’s horribly inflexible. The school is well suited for bright, motivated students, but can’t seem to accommodate gifted students whose needs go beyond the “typical” bright student. Communication with administration is terrible, and almost all via email and newsletters. Trying to have a conversation with a human is rather like pulling teeth. Being directed to an individual who might provide more insight is impossible. The gatekeepers abound.It’s interesting that the district allows foundations to fund various opportunities not available at other schools, but refuses to allow individual students to pursue opportunities outside “the norm”. There seems to be an unusual fear of thinking outside the box. I hope this atmosphere of inflexibility and lack of creativity doesn’t rub off on the students.
Submitted by other on September 21, 2022

I used to go this school, and the bullying here is one of a kind. Instead of whats in the movies, you just get psychological turmoil. I can see that even after a year of being out of there, that stuff is still going on. I dreaded coming to school everyday during 8th grade because these children are trying way to hard to be mature. I’m not sure how to change this, but it sucked. In eighth grade you should have fun, do stupid kid things. Not put 70 layers of make up on so no one points out you’re one pimple. How can teachers pay such little attention to what goes on with these children? I don’t get it. The punishments are either to harsh or to little. Don’t recommend your kid going here unless you want to have to pay for therapy.
Submitted by student on August 24, 2022

Dickerson is a excellent school academically, but socially and emotionally I cant say the same. The only reason I know is because I'm there most days out of the typical work week. The things that go on inside of those halls are crazy, the ''good kids'', (the straight A athletes (that cheat on everything) and attention starved teenage girls) are the main kids that act different in front of adults rather than alone. Even though kids might swear or laugh behind teachers backs BUT their switch ups are a different kind. Like for example, say a new kid that may not speak much English and is forcefully introduced to a group of ''popular'' kids by a teacher (hoping that they make friends) and as it may appear that the ''popular kids'' are ''taking them under their wing'' they are NOT. All they do is make it seem like their bonding but their actually humiliating them. And how do I know you ask? I've seen it happen SO many times. And bullying at Dickerson can result to kid's DREADING to having to deal with constant humiliation and constant insecurities & unrealistic beauty standards that are there. I even have a classmate that did NOT come to school for 2 MONTHS due to the fear of the cruel kids at that school. A teacher can chase you down the hallway for your shorts being 1 millimeter to short, even in the summer and it only seems to bother them.. THE STUDENTS DONT EVEN NOTICE SO WHATS THE POINT, but when a kid is getting peer pressured or bullied they all of a sudden don't care? The Cobb County school system in general very outdated (look at how old the board is) so PLEASE MAKE THIS SCHOOL YOUR LAST OPTION.
Submitted by other on June 10, 2022

Dickerson is a nice school, it’s fairly clean, and the custodians try their hardest which I respect. But things that go on at Dickerson are different. There is most definitely bullying but not necessarily in the physical fashion, it’s more of a physiological way of bulling. People talk bad about you in general even about their own “besties”. And I know this because 1. I am one of those besties, now I am not. And 2. Several of my actual best friends got hurt by this. The administration has no tolerance for bullying, apparently, so when they do find it, whoever the bully is most definitely gets ATLEAST one day in ISS which I think is over the top because in 8th grade that instantly takes you off the music trips. So the administration is very trying to stop bullying but how they address bullying is ineffective. Dickerson is a very academically oriented school, just like it’s big brother Walton. Which can be good but for 80% of students they are not looking to go to Harvard and spend all their time outside of school for academics. As the majority of students have activities after school, which makes after school jammed packed. That’s why most students stay up late because they have to in order to have any free time after school. Then they struggle to wake up which causes them to be tired at school and not do as well. Also lunch is 23Minutes long, 23! So kids have very little time to eat and socialize, the best part of lunch, and talking is strictly enforced so the reason why teachers keep getting mad is because they don’t get anytime to talk with each other at school where for most people is the easiest time for them to talk with their friends because they have no time after school. In the hallways there is a computer lab in each grade so the hallways kind of wrap around the computer labs making a loop, so most kids like to loop as much as they can so they have more time to talk with their friends, but the teachers have stopped allowing looping which is another way to take away needed free time. Plus the backpacks are way to heavy, even though we got student laptops so we could go all electronic but teachers still use paper like the county didn’t just pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on laptops for their students. Now I’m not saying Dickerson is necessarily a bad school, because it’s middle school some of the supposedly best years of our lives, so as long as you just do you best in school and fun you should be ok, and do not be afraid to ask for help.
Submitted by other on March 26, 2022

Ableist and humiliating. Keeps me up at night years later the cruelty of this area.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2021

I agree with a lot of the reviews: the teachers only care about the smart students. If you are average/below average you will have a very hard time and get minimal help from some of the teachers and no help from the remainder of the teachers. There is a lot of money at this school, therefore some spoiled kids. But it the same time, there are a lot of good kids. Bullying DOES go on at this school - not quite sure how aggressively administration handles bullying. Yes, students have a lot of homework most of the time. Grading scale is not ten points for all letter grades, which I don't think is fair. A 72 is a D. Although I have complaints in multiple areas, I am glad my son went to Dickerson because it did push him and I believe it prepared him very well for high school. I know now that he can perform under the stress of a heavy workload. I feel sorry for the kids that are not able to keep up BC they get very minimal help, if any, from the teachers. If you are smart, you are in. If not, you are doomed. It was a struggle for my son a lot of the time, but I was there to push him and make him do what he needed to do to succeed. Some of a students success will come from home, from the parents holding them accountable for their grades and making sure they do what they need to do to succeed. No room for goofing off if you attend Dickerson. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities for parents, and a plethora of parents to help out. I suggest participating if you are able. The administration and teachers are more "understanding" of issues your student may have if you are involved with the school, as I am sure is the case at most schools.
Submitted by student on November 15, 2020

It's a great school, if you want your child to stress about homework 24/7. The only thing this school is good at is enforcing grades. The only thing teachers care about are grades. You have a quiz every week, and a test every other week. Health teaches you about mental health and stress, but yet they are the reason the student is stressed. We NEED to rethink our public school system, and maybe realize that kids need time to enjoy their childhood before they are an adult and have to file taxes, buy houses and cars, etc.
Submitted by student on August 26, 2020

i dont like this school, just dont come here. too much stress about grades, and bullying goes on, and the teachers dont have effective out looks for kids with depression or other mental disorders, they claim its just a phase, and then they make it worse, so go anywhere else but not here.
Submitted by student on May 15, 2020

This school at best is below average they may make it look great on the outside with all of the test grades but they are way too hard on students and too highly focused on grades to care about their students well being.
Submitted by student on March 16, 2020

Amazing all of the teachers are superior
Submitted by parent on December 02, 2019

This school welcomed my 2 kids with open arms and helped them grow their grade average by a full grade level! And the kids there are amazing, they aren't snobby, rude, or bullies. Besides for 1 or 2 bad apples who don't have a good home life, the kids here have helped my two kids grow as people, and I hope that the district will continue to grow this outstanding school!
Submitted by student on July 08, 2019

Im an advanced placement student and joined in 7th grade. It was easy to make friends, though I quickly realized how fake everyone there is. It took half the year just to get me into the right higher classes. I had all 98+ in my on levels and they still didn't move me until a LOT of nagging (thx mom). If you are moving from a different school system or in between grades, DONT. They are AWFUL at taking your opinion on your class placement to heart. They do not let kids be in the higher classes until they take a test that even the kids in the advanced class would fail. This sets the kid up for a high school career in lower classes than they should be in.
Submitted by parent on April 13, 2018

Excellent, forward thinking, college type settings, and the teachers and staff love the kids.. The school in East Cobb are better than private schools near by. My child came from a private school and from what we can tell is getting a far better education at this school than what we use to pay over $1500 a month for private school.