Summary:
Zip code 31701 in Albany, Georgia, is home to one high school, Monroe High School, which serves grades 9 through 12 within the Dougherty County school district.
Monroe High School serves a student body where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, reflecting a high-poverty environment. The school’s most pressing challenge is chronic absenteeism, with 42.2% of students chronically absent—more than double the state rate of 17.7% and nearly double the district rate of 24.4%. This likely contributes to significant academic struggles. Proficiency rates on state End-of-Course assessments are far below state averages across all subjects: Algebra I proficiency is just 12.4% versus 48.1% statewide, Biology is 20.9% versus 47.2%, and U.S. History is 19.0% versus 38.5%. These rates also declined from the previous year in every subject, with Algebra I dropping 4.9 percentage points. The school’s overall percentile ranking fell from the 19th to the 12th percentile, placing it in the bottom 12% of Georgia high schools.
Despite these academic challenges, there are some positive indicators. The graduation rate of 88.7% actually exceeds the state average of 87.2%, and the dropout rate of 2.4% matches the state average. This suggests the school is effectively supporting students toward graduation, possibly through credit recovery or alternative pathways, even as standardized test performance lags. Per-student spending is $14,564, with a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.7:1. The combination of high poverty, elevated absenteeism, and declining test scores points to an urgent need for targeted interventions around attendance and instructional support. While the school faces considerable obstacles, its ability to graduate students at a rate above the state average offers a foundation to build upon.
Thank you for your feedback!