Summary:
Zip code 35564 is home to just one high school, Hackleburg High School, a small rural school in Hackleburg, Alabama, serving grades 6-12 with 265 students under the Marion County school district.
Hackleburg High School is a standout success story, having jumped from a 2-star rating (37th percentile) in 2023-2024 to a 4-star rating (79th percentile) in 2025-2026—a remarkable 156-position climb in just two years. The school's graduation rate is exceptional at 96.7%, well above both the district (91.7%) and state (91.5%) averages, despite 58.11% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 10.1% is also better than the state average of 12.0%, showing strong student engagement. The school's greatest academic strength is English Language Arts, particularly in 11th grade where 51.43% of students are proficient—17.7 percentage points above the state average. Science performance is also consistently strong, with 8th graders scoring 68.42% proficiency (14.3 points above state) and 11th graders at 41.67% (5.5 points above state).
However, the school shows a clear pattern of improvement as students advance. In 6th grade, English proficiency lags at 44.83%—nearly 12 points below the state—but by 7th grade it jumps to 68.42%, and by 11th grade it becomes the school's biggest advantage. Similarly, 8th grade math proficiency is a standout at 44.74% (18.38 points above state), though 11th grade math dips slightly below state average. This "upper grades advantage" suggests the school is particularly effective at developing students through middle school and maintaining those gains. With only about 38 students per grade, Hackleburg demonstrates that small rural schools can achieve academic excellence despite resource constraints, offering a compelling model for similar institutions facing comparable challenges.
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