Summary:
Zip code 36032 in Fort Deposit, Alabama, is served by two public schools within the Lowndes County district, which together enroll 290 students across grades PK-8, with no local high school available in the area.
For parents, the most striking story is the dramatic contrast between the two schools. Fort Deposit Elementary School has shown remarkable improvement, jumping from the 9th to the 37th percentile in state rankings over two years. Its chronic absenteeism rate of just 2.3% is exceptional—far better than the district's 19% and the state's 12%—and its 3rd grade math proficiency (53%) and 4th grade English proficiency (59%) are strong. However, the school faces a troubling math cliff: proficiency plummets from 53% in 3rd grade to just 4% in 5th grade, a catastrophic drop that suggests a serious problem with upper-elementary math instruction. In contrast, Lowndes County Middle School is in decline, falling to the 7th percentile (0 stars) with 8th grade math proficiency at literally 0%. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 25.6% is more than double the state average, and while English skills improve with each grade (reaching 43% in 8th grade), the math crisis creates a severe pipeline problem for students entering high school.
The middle school actually spends 18% more per student ($14,023 vs. $11,888) and has a better student-teacher ratio (12.2:1 vs. 15.5:1), yet produces far worse outcomes—raising questions about resource effectiveness. Both schools serve predominantly low-income families (87-94% free/reduced lunch), and with small cohorts of roughly 20-35 students per grade, year-to-year scores can swing dramatically. The elementary school proves improvement is possible despite challenging demographics, but the transition to middle school appears to be a breaking point where attendance collapses and academic performance deteriorates sharply. Parents should be aware that students must leave the zip code for high school, potentially carrying these academic deficits with them.
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