Best High Schools in Zip Code 39845

Zip code 39845, encompassing the Donalsonville, Georgia area, is served by a single high school: Seminole County Middle/High School, a combined grades 6-12 institution within the Seminole County district.

For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is that it is a school of stark contrasts. On one hand, the school posts a graduation rate of 89.2%, which beats the state average of 87.2%, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 12.6% is significantly better than the state’s 17.7%. These are strong indicators that students are engaged and staying on track to graduate. On the other hand, academic proficiency in most subjects lags behind state averages. The most glaring weakness is U.S. History, where only 14.8% of students are proficient—a 23.7-point gap from the state. Eighth-grade science is also critically low at 9.2% proficiency. However, there are bright spots: 8th grade Social Studies proficiency (45.6%) actually exceeds the state average, and Biology scores (45.8%) are nearly at the state level. The school also showed impressive year-over-year gains in Algebra I (+8.4 points) and Biology (+6.2 points), suggesting recent improvements in STEM courses are taking hold.

The school’s state ranking has slipped from the 55th percentile (3 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 35th-38th percentile (2 stars) in recent years, but this decline doesn’t tell the full story given the simultaneous improvements in several subjects. With 100% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school faces significant socioeconomic challenges, yet it maintains a favorable 13.6:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $15,195. The dramatic difference between strong 8th grade social studies performance and weak high school U.S. History performance suggests targeted, subject-specific interventions could yield meaningful gains. Overall, this is a school that excels at keeping students in school and graduating, but needs focused support in specific academic areas, particularly U.S. History and middle school science.