Summary:
Letohatchee, Alabama is home to a single public high school, Calhoun High School, which serves grades 9 through 12 within the Lowndes County school district, a small, rural community where the school enrolls just 186 students.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Calhoun High School is facing a severe academic crisis, with test scores that are dramatically below state averages. In the 2025-2026 school year, only 2.56% of students were proficient in math, 5.13% in science, and 5.13% in English, compared to state averages of 27.21%, 36.17%, and 33.73%, respectively. The previous year was even worse, with a 0% proficiency rate in math. The school is ranked in the bottom 3rd percentile in Alabama (370 out of 380) and has a 0-star rating. Chronic absenteeism is a major red flag, with 21.7% of students missing significant school days, nearly double the state average of 12.0%. Additionally, 88.71% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a very high-poverty population that brings significant socio-economic challenges to the classroom.
Despite these struggles, there are a few points of note. The school maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 15.5:1 and spends a substantial $14,855 per student, suggesting that a lack of funding or overcrowding is not the primary issue. The graduation rate of 86.3% is above the district average of 83.3%, though below the state's 91.5%, which may indicate a focus on moving students through to graduation rather than achieving academic proficiency. The combination of extreme poverty, high absenteeism, and critically low test scores points to deep systemic challenges. For parents, this data suggests that while the school has resources and a decent graduation rate, the actual academic output is alarmingly low, and any family considering this school should be aware that significant interventions around attendance and wraparound support services are urgently needed to improve student outcomes.
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