Wilcox County Middle School

Wilcox County Middle School in Rochelle, GA, serves 236 students in grades 6 through 8 and has earned a 4-star rating, ranking in the top 20% of middle schools statewide—a remarkable jump from its 3-star rating the previous year.

This school stands out for its exceptional performance in math and science. In 8th-grade math, 72.5% of students scored proficient, compared to the state average of 46.3%—a gap of more than 26 points. Sixth and seventh graders also outperform state averages in math by 8 and 15 points, respectively. In 8th-grade science, 40.6% of students are proficient versus 29.7% statewide. The school also showed a dramatic one-year turnaround in 8th-grade social studies, jumping from 27.9% proficiency (below the state average) to 50% (above the state average). What makes these results even more impressive is that nearly 89% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, yet all student subgroups—including male, female, African American, and White students—earned 4-star ratings. The school's success is especially striking when compared to nearby schools: Turner County Middle School ranks in the 12th percentile, Crisp County Middle School in the 20th, and Ben Hill County Middle School in the 46th. In 8th-grade math, Wilcox County's proficiency rate is more than five times higher than Turner County's.

The school's main challenge is chronic absenteeism: 34.9% of students were chronically absent in the 2025-2026 school year, nearly double the state average of 17.7%. This rate has hovered between 34% and 40% for five years. On a positive note, the Wilcox County district has increased per-student spending from $9,536 to $15,122 over four years while lowering the student-to-teacher ratio to 13.8, suggesting a strong investment in student support. If the school can address absenteeism, its already strong academic gains could grow even further.