Summary:
Zip code 36105 in Montgomery, Alabama, is served by a single middle school, Bellingrath Middle School, which enrolls 583 students in grades 6 through 8 and is part of the Montgomery County school district.
Bellingrath Middle School is facing severe academic challenges, having ranked in the bottom 1% of Alabama middle schools for three consecutive years and earning a zero-star rating each year. The most alarming area is mathematics, where proficiency rates are critically low—just 2.7% of 6th graders, 0.57% of 7th graders, and 1.62% of 8th graders meet grade-level standards, compared to state averages ranging from 24% to 35%. English performance is relatively stronger, with proficiency rates between 13.8% and 15.9%, though still far below state averages of roughly 55-58%. Interestingly, 8th grade science proficiency (17%) is more than ten times higher than 8th grade math proficiency, suggesting that reading comprehension may be a relative strength compared to computational skills.
A critical barrier to learning is chronic absenteeism, which affects 47.4% of students—nearly four times the state average of 12% and almost double the district rate of 25.2%. The school also serves a predominantly economically disadvantaged population, with 87.5% of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Per-student spending of $11,220 appears reasonable, yet outcomes remain persistently low with no meaningful improvement over the past two years. While the district itself ranks in the bottom 20% of Alabama districts, Bellingrath's performance is exceptionally poor even by that standard. For parents, this school faces compounding challenges of poverty, attendance, and instructional quality that will require dramatic, targeted interventions to change its trajectory.
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