Summary:
Madison County Schools is home to one middle school, Madison Middle School in Marshall, NC, which serves 468 students in grades 6–8 and faces significant economic challenges, with over 99% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Because it is the district's only middle school, the most useful comparisons are to state averages and year-over-year trends rather than to other local schools.
Madison Middle has shown a steady slide in its statewide ranking, falling from the 76th percentile (4 stars) in 2023–2024 to the 53rd percentile (3 stars) in 2025–2026. The school's biggest strength is in the lower grades: 6th grade math proficiency reached 71.8% in 2025–2026, which was 12.6 points above the state average and an 11-point improvement from the prior year. Seventh grade also outpaced the state in both math and reading. The picture is less encouraging by 8th grade, where all tested subjects fell short of state averages. In particular, 8th grade math proficiency was 39.9%, 13.1 points below the state, and 8th grade reading and science declined notably from the prior year.
One of the biggest concerns for Madison Middle is chronic absenteeism. At 38.7%, the school's rate is far above both the district average of 26.9% and the state average of 24.2%, which may be tied to the school's high level of economic disadvantage. Encouragingly, however, several lower-grade subjects showed strong year-over-year gains, including 6th grade math and 7th grade math and reading, suggesting that efforts in the early middle grades are gaining traction even as 8th grade results remain the clearest area needing urgent attention.
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