Summary:
Zip code 36502 in Atmore, Alabama, is served by five schools within the Escambia County district, including three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, with a total enrollment of roughly 1,669 students.
For parents, the standout school in this area is clearly Huxford Elementary School, which is the only school in the zip code with a 3-star rating. It outperforms every other local school in both math and English at nearly every grade level. For example, 3rd-grade math proficiency at Huxford is 48.78%, compared to just 12% at Rachel Patterson Elementary School. Huxford also has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (21.1%) in the area. In contrast, Escambia County High School faces the most significant challenges, with 11th-grade math proficiency at just 4.35% and a chronic absenteeism rate of 36.6%. The transition to Escambia County Middle School is particularly stark, as 6th-grade math proficiency plummets to 4.65% compared to Huxford's 48.15% for the same grade. A C Moore Primary School, serving PK-K students, has the lowest poverty rate (48.61%) and best student-teacher ratio (16.6:1), but lacks test score data for comparison.
Chronic absenteeism is a systemic issue across all five schools, with every school more than double the state average of 12%. Rachel Patterson Elementary is on a concerning downward trend, dropping from the 20th to the 8th percentile in state rankings over three years, and it also has the highest student-teacher ratio at 21.2:1. Interestingly, per-student spending does not correlate with outcomes—the high school spends the most ($13,260 per student) yet has the weakest academic results, while Huxford achieves the best outcomes with near-average spending. The high school's graduation rate of 86.2% is below the state average of 91.5%, and its low proficiency rates suggest students may be graduating without full academic preparedness.
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