Summary:
Zip code 36545 is home to just one middle school, Jackson Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 278 students within the Clarke County district.
For parents considering this area, Jackson Middle School presents a mixed picture. The school holds a 1-star rating and ranks in the bottom quartile of Alabama middle schools, with the district itself ranked 107th out of 139 statewide. The most urgent concern is mathematics: proficiency rates range from just 8.33% to 12.16% across grades, far below state averages that sit between 24% and 35%. In contrast, English proficiency is notably stronger, with rates between 37.84% and 48.81%, and 8th-grade science stands out as the school's best subject at 42.86% proficiency—the closest any subject comes to the state average. This suggests the school has instructional strengths in literacy and science that could be built upon.
One of the most encouraging findings is attendance. The chronic absenteeism rate is just 3.1%, dramatically better than the district's 8.6% and the state's 12.0%, meaning students are consistently showing up to class. This is a solid foundation, but it also highlights that the academic struggles are not due to truancy—rather, they point to challenges in instruction and support, particularly in math. The school also serves a predominantly low-income population, with 73.74% of students receiving free or reduced lunch, a factor that often correlates with additional barriers to learning. With a student-teacher ratio of 19.3 to 1 and per-student spending of $9,934, resources are modest. Year-over-year scores also show significant volatility, which may reflect the small enrollment size. Overall, Jackson Middle School has strong attendance and relative strengths in English and science, but parents should be aware that math proficiency is critically low and will likely require targeted intervention and support.
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