Summary:
The Chickasaw City school district is a small, high-poverty district in Alabama serving roughly 2,700 students across five schools, from Pre-K through 12th grade, and it faces significant academic challenges, ranking in the bottom 13% of districts statewide.
For parents, the standout school is Chickasaw Intermediate School, which outperforms every other traditional school in the district in nearly all subjects and grade levels. For example, 52.78% of its 5th graders and 52.13% of its 4th graders are proficient in English Language Arts, compared to district averages of 46.93% and 37.97%, respectively. It also leads in 4th-grade science (40.86% proficient) and has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (12.9%) among the brick-and-mortar schools. In contrast, Chickasaw City High School shows a bright spot in math—11th-grade proficiency jumped from 13.46% to 18.6% year-over-year—but its ELA proficiency is alarmingly low at just 7.14% for 11th graders. Chickasaw City Elementary School and Chickasaw Middle School struggle more broadly, with the middle school showing a dramatic academic cliff: 7th-grade math proficiency is just 2.82%, and 8th-grade science is 19.12%. The Alabama Destinations Career Academy is a large online school (1,663 students) that skews district averages, reporting 0% chronic absenteeism and higher test scores, masking the severity of issues in traditional schools.
Key takeaways for families: chronic absenteeism is a critical problem, with the high school at 23.2% and elementary at 17.7%, both above the state average of 12.0%. Graduation rates are also concerning—61.5% at the high school and 74.1% at the academy, versus the state's 91.5%. Poverty is a defining factor, with 70-91% of students on free/reduced lunch, yet Chickasaw Intermediate School proves that school-level practices can overcome economic hurdles. Attendance and achievement are clearly linked, making reducing absenteeism the district's most promising lever for improvement.
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