Middle Schools in Clarke County

Clarke County, Alabama is home to two middle schools—Jackson Middle School and Wilson Hall Middle School—serving grades 6-8 (with Wilson Hall also serving 5th grade) in a district ranked 107th out of 139 in the state, where both schools have high poverty rates (74-78% free/reduced lunch) and small enrollments of 278 and 201 students respectively.

For parents comparing the two schools, the most striking difference is attendance: Jackson Middle School has an exceptionally low chronic absenteeism rate of just 3.1%, compared to Wilson Hall's 14.0%—a gap of nearly 11 percentage points despite similar socioeconomic profiles. Academically, the schools have distinct strengths. Jackson excels in 8th grade science, with 42.86% proficiency in 2025-2026, dramatically up from 26.8% the prior year, and also outperforms Wilson Hall in math across all grades (e.g., 8.97% vs. 0% in 6th grade). Wilson Hall, however, is the clear winner in English Language Arts, particularly in 7th grade where 62.5% of students are proficient versus just 37.84% at Jackson—a 24.66-point gap. Wilson Hall also showed the most significant ranking improvement, jumping 40 positions from 352nd to 312th, while Jackson's ranking has stabilized at 310th.

Both schools face a critical challenge in mathematics, with proficiency rates far below state averages at every grade level—Wilson Hall's 6th grade math proficiency is 0%, and even the best performance (Jackson's 7th grade at 12.16%) is roughly half the state average. The dramatic science gains at both schools (Wilson Hall improved by 28.9 points, Jackson by 16.06 points) suggest district-wide instructional changes worth investigating. For parents, Jackson offers better attendance, stronger math, and superior science, while Wilson Hall provides notably stronger literacy instruction and is on an upward trajectory. The Clarke County district's minimal resource differences between schools ($9,934 vs. $9,535 per student) suggest that internal program priorities—not funding levels—drive the divergent outcomes.