Summary:
Malone, Texas, is served by a single, very small public school, Malone Elementary, which educates 63 students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade in a rural setting within the Malone Independent School District (Isd).
This school is a study in contrasts. On one hand, it offers an incredibly intimate learning environment with a student-teacher ratio of just 6.2:1 and spends a substantial $12,108 per student. On the other hand, its academic performance is among the lowest in the state, ranking in the 0th percentile (4,621 out of 4,627 schools) for the 2025-2026 school year. The school also serves a highly economically disadvantaged population, with 93.65% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. A positive note is a 0% dropout rate, but the academic data reveals extreme year-to-year volatility, likely due to the very small class sizes. For example, 4th-grade reading proficiency plummeted from 71.43% in 2024-2025 to just 8.33% the following year, while 4th-grade math went from 57.14% proficient to 0% in the same period.
Despite these challenges, there are glimmers of success. In the 2024-2025 school year, 4th graders significantly outperformed state averages in both reading (71.43% vs. 53.73%) and math (57.14% vs. 45.79%). However, this success is inconsistent, and the school struggles with systemic issues, as evidenced by multiple grade levels recording 0% proficiency in core subjects like math and reading in recent years. The data suggests that while the school has the resources of small classes and high spending, the overwhelming challenge of extreme poverty has prevented consistent academic achievement, making it a school with potential that has yet to be fully realized.
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