Timber Ridge Elementary School vs West Side Elementary School

Timber Ridge Elementary School and West Side Elementary School are both Marietta, Georgia elementary schools serving grades PK–05, but their overall ratings diverge by a meaningful margin. West Side Elementary School scores 9.7/10 overall versus Timber Ridge Elementary School's 8.7/10 — a full point higher — and that gap is reflected in their state standings: West Side Elementary School ranks #4 of 2,268 Georgia schools while Timber Ridge Elementary School ranks #110 of 2,268. Both placements represent strong performance, but West Side's position near the very top of a state with over two thousand schools is exceptional.

The academic scores are identical — both Timber Ridge Elementary School and West Side Elementary School earn a 9.6/10 — meaning neither school edges out the other on proficiency alone. The overall rating difference is driven by growth: West Side Elementary School scores 9.8/10 on the growth measure compared to Timber Ridge Elementary School's 8.6/10, a 1.2-point gap. That growth score reflects how much students advance beyond predictions based on their starting points, and West Side's 9.8 places it among the highest-performing schools in Georgia on that dimension.

Demographically, the two schools are close in size — Timber Ridge Elementary School enrolls 510 students and West Side Elementary School enrolls 531 — but they differ on socioeconomic composition and staffing. Timber Ridge Elementary School has a 6% free and reduced-price lunch rate compared to West Side Elementary School's 17%, suggesting West Side serves a broader economic range of families. West Side also has a slightly lower student-teacher ratio, 12.1:1 versus Timber Ridge's 13.1:1, meaning marginally more individual attention per student despite its higher FRL population and equally strong test scores.

Both schools cover the same grade span, PK through 5th grade, and sit 9.3 miles apart within Marietta. Families choosing between them are weighing two strong elementary options — Timber Ridge among Georgia's top 5% of schools, West Side among its top 0.2%. There are no other grade-level or program distinctions available to differentiate them further.