Summary:
Decatur County is home to a single middle school, Bainbridge Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 793 students in a high-poverty area where every student qualifies for free or reduced lunch.
Bainbridge Middle School shows a clear upward trend, improving its state ranking from the 31st percentile in 2023-2024 to the 46th percentile in 2025-2026. The school’s most impressive result is in Algebra I, where 94.8% of students scored proficient—nearly double the state average of 48.1% and more than triple the district average of 28.8%. This likely reflects a selective acceleration program for advanced math students, since general 8th-grade math proficiency (33.1%) trails the state (46.3%). Science is another genuine strength, with 39.7% proficiency exceeding the state’s 29.7% average. Social studies also improved dramatically, jumping from 21.3% to 31.5% in one year, though it remains below the state’s 40.2%.
The biggest challenge is chronic absenteeism: 31.3% of students miss significant school time, nearly double the state rate of 17.7%. This likely contributes to below-average proficiency in most core subjects, including 6th-grade math (25.3% vs. 40.7% statewide) and 8th-grade social studies. On the positive side, the school maintains a favorable 12.2:1 student-teacher ratio and spends $13,486 per student, resources that may be fueling its steady improvement. While most scores still lag state averages, the consistent year-over-year gains across math, science, and social studies suggest that instructional strategies are taking hold. English Language Arts scores for the current year will be released in December, so no conclusions can be drawn about that subject yet.
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