Schools in Zip Code 38878

ZIP code 38878 is home to just one school, Vardaman Attendance Center, a combined PK-12 campus serving 624 students in the Calhoun County School District, a high-poverty rural area where about 75% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Vardaman Attendance Center stands out most for its remarkably low chronic absenteeism rate of 7.2%, compared to 15.8% for the district and 23.9% for the state. That’s a strong positive signal, especially for a school serving a high-need population. Academically, the school’s clearest strengths are in middle school STEM and high school science. Eighth-grade science proficiency is 78.3% versus 57.8% statewide, Biology end-of-course results are 83.9% versus 63.1%, and sixth-grade math results are 70.8% versus 52.7%. The school also exceeds state averages in English II (63.1% vs. 49.3%) and has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.5, which may support more individualized attention.

However, not all areas are strong. Third-grade English Language Arts proficiency is just 26.0%, a 22.5-point gap behind the state, and seventh-grade ELA is 23.8% versus 36.7% statewide. Fifth-grade math also lags at 32.2% versus 49.6%. Algebra I is a concern as well, with 58.2% proficiency dropping sharply from the prior year’s 78.5%. Large year-to-year swings in several grades—such as sixth-grade ELA jumping from 23.7% to 54.1% and third-grade ELA falling from 50.9% to 26.0%—suggest cohort sensitivity, so it’s hard to judge true trends from just two years of data. Despite the “Alternative” label on the state report, this is a full PK-12 attendance center, not a small specialized program. Overall, parents should see a school with excellent attendance, strong science and middle school math, but one that would benefit from targeted support in early literacy, some elementary math, and Algebra I.