Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet

Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet in Albany, GA, is a magnet school serving 478 students in grades 6-8 within the Dougherty County School District, and it has earned a reputation as one of the top-performing middle schools in the entire state.

This school’s results are truly exceptional. Robert A. Cross currently ranks 4th out of 578 Georgia middle schools, placing it in the top 1% statewide with a 5-star rating. The academic advantages over nearby schools are dramatic. For example, in 6th grade math, 86.2% of students are proficient, compared to just 27.9% across the district and 40.7% statewide. In 8th grade social studies, the school posts a 79.2% proficiency rate versus a 23.1% district average. Perhaps most striking is the Algebra I End of Course exam, where the school has achieved a perfect 100% proficiency rate for four consecutive years. This success extends across all student groups, with African American students ranking 2nd out of 480 schools statewide. The school also excels at keeping students in class—its chronic absenteeism rate is just 5.4%, far below the district’s 24.4% and the state’s 17.7%.

What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the context. About 96% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, yet the school outperforms schools in far wealthier areas. For instance, Lee County Middle School West and Lee County Middle School East—in the higher-ranked Lee County district—still score 30-50 percentage points lower in math and science. The contrast with other Dougherty County schools is even starker: Radium Springs Middle School, just 8 miles away, has proficiency rates in the single digits. Robert A. Cross proves that high-poverty schools can achieve elite outcomes, and its consistent year-over-year improvement—including a drop in absenteeism from 17.2% to 5.4% in four years—shows a school-wide culture of high expectations and effective instruction.