Breakthrough Charter School

Breakthrough Charter School in Marion, AL, is a small alternative public charter school serving 375 students in grades PK through 11, operating as its own district within the Breakthrough Charter School district.

The most significant challenge facing this school is chronic absenteeism, which has improved dramatically from a staggering 53.2% in 2021-2022 to 23.5% in 2024-2025, though it remains nearly double the state average. This improvement is a positive sign that interventions are working. Academically, math proficiency is critically low across all grade levels, with rates consistently 15-20 points below state averages—for example, only 3.57% of 7th graders were proficient in math in the most recent school year. However, early-grade English is a relative strength, with 3rd-grade proficiency at 51.85% and 5th-grade at 56%, much closer to state benchmarks. The school also shows a clear pattern of declining performance as students advance, with 3rd-grade English proficiency dropping from 51.85% to 38.1% by 6th grade, suggesting the school supports early learners better than older students.

Compared to nearby schools in the Perry County district, the picture is mixed. Breakthrough has a lower chronic absenteeism rate (23.5% vs. 33.5%) and a lower free/reduced lunch population (69.6% vs. 82.32%) than Francis Marion School, just under a mile away, yet it lags in 4th-grade math proficiency (14.29% vs. 54.17%). At the high school level, Breakthrough outperforms Robert C Hatch High School, with 11th-grade math proficiency of 4.55% versus 0% and English proficiency of 10% versus 0%. The school's student-teacher ratio has also stabilized from an extreme 56.4 in 2022-2023 to a more reasonable 18.7, suggesting staffing issues from the pandemic era have resolved. While significant challenges remain, particularly in math and attendance, the school shows a trajectory of recovery and relative strengths in early literacy and supporting older students to graduation.