Summary:
Zip code 36908, a rural area in Gilbertown, Alabama, is home to just one high school: Southern Choctaw High School, which serves grades 7 through 12 with a total enrollment of 211 students.
Southern Choctaw High School is a small, combined middle and high school within the Choctaw County district. The school has a high poverty rate, with nearly 77% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Despite this challenge, the school shows promising signs of improvement. Its state ranking jumped dramatically from the 10th percentile in 2024-2025 to the 33rd percentile in 2025-2026, earning a 2-star rating. This upward trend is reflected in significant academic gains, particularly in 11th grade, where math proficiency increased five-fold (from 2.38% to 12.5%), science proficiency more than doubled (from 11.9% to 28.13%), and English proficiency nearly tripled (from 7.89% to 21.88%). The school also boasts a strong 93.1% graduation rate, exceeding both the district (88.8%) and state (91.5%) averages.
However, challenges remain. While the school outperforms its district in most subjects, proficiency rates still lag behind state averages, especially in mathematics. For example, only 6.9% of 7th graders and 3.7% of 8th graders are proficient in math, compared to state averages of 24.46% and 26.36%, respectively. There is also a concerning pattern of declining performance in upper grades, with 11th-grade English proficiency (21.88%) well below 7th-grade levels (55.17%). Chronic absenteeism is another issue, affecting 19.4% of students—significantly higher than the state average of 12%. The school's 7th-grade English is a notable bright spot, matching the state average at 55.17%. With a 20:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $12,337, the school invests reasonable resources but faces the challenge of serving a wide range of grade levels with a small faculty.
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