Summary:
Coastal Plains High School is the sole school in the State Specialty Schools I- Coastal Plains High School district, serving grades 9-12 in Brunswick, Georgia, with 1,161 students.
This school is facing a severe, multi-layered crisis. The graduation rate is a critically low 18.5%, compared to the state average of 87.2%, while the dropout rate of 20.7% is more than eight times the state's 2.4%. Academic proficiency is far below state averages across all subjects, with gaps of 25 to 40 percentage points. For example, only 8.4% of students are proficient in Algebra I versus 48.1% statewide, and just 19.9% are proficient in Biology versus 47.2% statewide. The most alarming trend is the 15-point collapse in Algebra I proficiency from 23.4% to 8.4% in a single year, even as the state average improved. The school's state ranking has also declined steadily, from the 25th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 12th percentile in 2025-2026.
The root cause appears to be chronic absenteeism: 52.8% of students are chronically absent, three times the state rate of 17.7%. This makes meaningful academic progress nearly impossible. Notably, the school spends $16,242 per student—above average—and has a reasonable 15.7:1 student-teacher ratio, so funding and class size are not the primary obstacles. The free/reduced lunch rate is 27.65%, below the typical state average, suggesting poverty alone doesn't explain the absenteeism. The solution likely lies in attendance interventions, student engagement strategies, and wraparound support services rather than additional resources. This school urgently needs systemic intervention to reverse its downward trajectory and improve outcomes for its students.
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