Jackson High School

Jackson High School is a public high school in Jackson, AL, serving 376 students in grades 9-12 within the Clarke County school district, where about two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school has shown remarkable momentum recently, jumping from a 1-star to a 2-star rating and climbing from the 20th to the 49th percentile in statewide rankings between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

The most impressive numbers are in graduation and attendance. Jackson High School boasts a 97.8% graduation rate for 2024-2025—well above both the district (91.4%) and state (91.5%) averages, and a huge improvement from 83.7% just two years prior. Chronic absenteeism has also plummeted to just 5.2%, compared to 8.6% for the district and 12.0% statewide. Academically, the school posted dramatic single-year gains: English proficiency more than doubled (from 13.98% to 31.65%), science nearly doubled (from 15.15% to 28.75%), and math improved to 17.5%. These results are particularly strong when compared to Clarke County High School, where English proficiency sits at just 15.38% and the graduation rate is 80.7%.

While the overall trajectory is positive, some challenges remain. Female students consistently outperform male students by 17-25 percentile points, and students from low-income backgrounds, who make up the majority of the student body, still rank in the 43rd percentile—though that's a significant improvement from the 23rd percentile the year before. The school also achieves these outcomes efficiently, spending slightly less per student ($10,694) than its district counterpart ($11,080) while delivering substantially better results. With a lower student-teacher ratio (13.8 vs. 17.6) and a clear upward trend across multiple measures, Jackson High School appears to be implementing strategies that are working—though its history of year-to-year volatility suggests sustained focus will be key to maintaining this progress.