Summary:
Zip code 30474 in Vidalia, Georgia, is served by a single middle school, J. R. Trippe Middle School, which enrolls 498 students in grades 6 through 8 within the Vidalia City School District.
J. R. Trippe Middle School serves a student body where 97.59% qualify for free or reduced lunch, and it has seen its state ranking slip from the 31st percentile (2 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 23rd percentile (1 star) in 2025-2026. The most dramatic data point is in Algebra I, where proficiency plummeted from 88.6% in 2024-2025 to 46.3% in 2025-2026—a 42.3-point drop that still leaves the school slightly above its district average (23.5%) but just below the state average (48.1%). The school's most critical weakness is 8th grade science, where only 4.8% of students scored proficient in 2025-2026, compared to a 29.7% state average—a nearly 25-point gap that represents the largest deficit in any subject. Math scores also lag significantly, with 6th grade at 17.4% proficient (state: 40.7%), 7th grade at 31.0% (state: 42.0%), and 8th grade at 24.4% (state: 46.3%).
Despite spending $13,362 per student and maintaining a favorable 13:1 student-teacher ratio, academic outcomes remain well below state averages across most subjects. The school's chronic absenteeism rate of 17.9% is essentially in line with the state average of 17.7%, which is a modest positive given the high poverty concentration. The only year-over-year improvement came in 7th grade math (+4.9 points), while all other subjects declined. The school's overall trajectory is concerning—three consecutive years of declining state percentile rankings—and the combination of high poverty, critically low science scores, and inconsistent math performance suggests that targeted interventions in science and foundational math skills would be most beneficial. English Language Arts scores are not included in this data release and will be published in December; no conclusions should be drawn from their absence.
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