White Plains Middle School, Anniston AL

Original Research by School Decision on White Plains Middle School

White Plains Middle School is a regular public school serving grades five through eight in the Calhoun County school system, located on Alabama Highway 9 in Anniston. The school draws from the White Plains community, a predominantly residential area east of downtown Anniston. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a range of economic backgrounds within the school. Civil rights data on special education and English learner populations was not available in the source data.

The academic picture comes from Alabama’s statewide assessment, the ACAP, for the 2024-25 school year. That is the only year of testing data on record, so no trend direction exists yet. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades five through eight are solid. A clear majority of students meet the state’s proficiency bar at each grade level, with the highest rates in grades five and six. The seventh-grade ELA rate is somewhat lower but still well over half of students proficient, and the eighth-grade rate returns to a level similar to the earlier grades. Overall, the school’s combined ELA proficiency sits above the midpoint among schools in Calhoun County districts.

Mathematics tells a more mixed story. In grade five and grade seven, roughly a quarter of students score proficient. Grade six is higher, with about a third proficient. Grade eight stands apart: nearly half of students reach proficiency, which is the strongest math result across the grade levels. The overall math proficiency, when averaged across all four grades and combined with ELA and science, places the school’s overall proficiency index above the midpoint relative to other Calhoun County districts. Science is tested only in grade eight, where a majority of students are proficient.

The school’s role in the community is tied to Anniston, a mid-sized city that serves as the county seat and a regional center for government, commerce, and culture. Anniston has an industrial heritage rooted in iron and munitions, with the Anniston Army Depot and the former Fort McClellan shaping the local economy. The city has invested in downtown revitalization under a Main Street Alabama designation and is home to the Chief Ladiga Trail, a rails-to-trails path that passes through the area. Housing in the vicinity is notably affordable, which may be a factor for families considering the school. The school district itself, Calhoun County, has not seen major publicly reported changes or initiatives recently.

For a parent evaluating this school, the central takeaway is a school where ELA performance is consistently solid across middle grades, while math performance is more uneven and notably lower in grades five and seven before rising in grade eight. The school serves a largely white student body with economic diversity. The surrounding area offers a modest urban setting with some civic amenities and one of the more affordable housing markets in the country. Families focused on math achievement may want to discuss with the school how instruction and support differ across grade levels, particularly in the earlier middle school years.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 27% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 31% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 17% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 21% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 69% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 59% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 57% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 61% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 43% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolCalhoun County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income82%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income85%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income52%Higher-income68%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income63%Higher-income77%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income14%Higher-income35%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income26%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income55%16 pp gap