Best High Schools in Zip Code 36865

Zip code 36865 is home to just one high school, Loachapoka High School, a small rural school in Loachapoka, Alabama, serving grades 7 through 12 with 277 students.

For parents considering this area, Loachapoka High School is the only option, and it presents a mixed picture. On the positive side, the school offers a favorable 10.6:1 student-to-teacher ratio and above-average per-student spending of $20,320, which suggests smaller class sizes and potentially more individual attention. Chronic absenteeism is also slightly better than the state average at 11.3%, meaning students are generally showing up to class. However, the academic results are deeply concerning. The school's state ranking has plummeted from the 46th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 12th percentile in 2025-2026, a drop of 130 positions in just two years. Test proficiency is critically low across every subject and grade level, with the most alarming figure being 11th-grade science, where only 6.12% of students are proficient—a staggering 30 percentage points below the state average. The graduation rate of 81.4% also trails the state average by more than 10 points.

The school serves a predominantly low-income population, with 84% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, which presents significant challenges. Yet the magnitude of the academic gaps—often 20 to 35 points below state averages—suggests issues beyond socioeconomic factors alone. The disconnect between strong resources (good staffing ratio, high spending) and poor outcomes raises questions about instructional quality and curriculum alignment. There is some volatility in performance, such as 7th-grade English swinging from 36.36% proficiency to 23.68% in one year, which indicates that individual teachers or cohorts can have outsized impacts at this small school. While attendance is a positive sign, the rapid decline in rankings and universally low test scores suggest Loachapoka High School is in urgent need of targeted intervention, particularly in science and English, to reverse its downward trajectory.