Best Public Schools in Zip Code 36875

Zip code 36875 in Seale, Alabama, is served by three public schools within the Russell County district, providing a complete educational pipeline from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade for approximately 2,369 students.

Families in this area will find a district with notable bright spots alongside significant academic challenges. Russell County High School is the clear standout, boasting an exceptional 97.3% graduation rate that far exceeds the state average, and it demonstrated remarkable year-over-year improvement in test scores—particularly in English, where proficiency jumped from 13.33% to 23.66% in a single year. The high school also spends the most per student at $10,679. However, it struggles with the highest chronic absenteeism rate in the area at 18.1%, which is well above the state average. At the other end of the spectrum, Oliver Elementary School excels at attendance, with a chronic absenteeism rate of just 5.4%, but faces serious challenges in mathematics—only 14.75% of 5th graders are proficient, the lowest rate in the entire dataset. Russell County Middle School shows a notable strength in 8th-grade science at 50.58% proficiency, nearly matching the state average, yet its math scores remain persistently low and actually declined significantly in 6th and 7th grades from the previous year.

A consistent pattern emerges across all three schools: science proficiency dramatically outpaces math proficiency at every level, with the gap most pronounced at the middle school where science scores are nearly three times higher than math. Additionally, chronic absenteeism escalates sharply with age, tripling from elementary to high school. The transition from elementary to middle school also reveals a significant drop in English proficiency, suggesting students face adjustment challenges. While the district ranks in the bottom third of Alabama, the high school's strong graduation rate and impressive academic improvements, combined with the elementary school's excellent attendance culture, provide families with reasons for optimism even as elementary math and secondary engagement remain critical areas needing attention.