Summary:
In zip code 71282, there is one middle school, Madison Middle School, serving grades 6 through 8 in Tallulah, Louisiana, a high-poverty area where over 93% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Madison Middle School is part of the Madison Parish school district, which ranks near the bottom in Louisiana. The school itself consistently ranks in the lowest 10% of middle schools statewide, with a 2025-2026 rank of 420 out of 452. However, it shows some relative strengths. Test scores, while far below state averages, are actually higher than the district average in every subject—for example, 27% proficiency in Social Studies versus the district's 19%. The school also has a notably low chronic absenteeism rate of 10.6%, compared to the district's 23.6% and the state's 22.5%, and a low dropout rate of 2.7% versus the district's 7.8%. A positive structural feature is a low student-teacher ratio of 9.9:1, suggesting smaller class sizes.
Key academic challenges include a significant gap between subjects: 47% of students are proficient in English Language Arts, but only 25% are proficient in Math. Performance also varies by grade, with 8th graders achieving 58% proficiency in ELA but only 29% in Math, while 7th graders struggle more broadly at 28% in ELA and 16% in Math. Overall, Madison Middle School is a school that, despite deep economic challenges and low state rankings, keeps students in class and engaged, outperforming its struggling district in key areas while needing focused improvement in math instruction.
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