The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Jackson Middle School
Jackson Middle School serves grades six through eight in the city of Jackson, a small river city in rural Clarke County, southwest Alabama. The school is part of the Clarke County School District. The building itself has a notable local history: it is housed in what was the African American high school before integration in the 1960s, and after integration that building became the middle school.
The school's student body reflects the broader community demographics. A substantial majority of students are Black, with a much smaller share of white students and very small numbers of students who are Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, or of two or more races. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a context where economic need is high. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how those populations are served and what support structures exist.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed across subjects. In English language arts, at each grade level between sixth and eighth, roughly half of students met proficiency standards. This is the school's strongest tested area. In science, results are lower, with just over a quarter of eighth graders reaching proficiency. In math, however, proficiency rates are very low across all three grades, with about one in seven students meeting the bar in sixth and seventh grade and a slightly higher but still very low rate in eighth grade. When placed alongside the other districts in Clarke County on a composite proficiency index, Jackson Middle School lands in the bottom quartile. The district as a whole has only two districts for comparison, so the county context is a narrow one, but the relative position is clear.
State testing data was available only for the most recent school year, so there is no trend line to show whether performance has been improving or declining. A parent who wants to understand the trajectory will need to ask the school or district for prior-year results.
Jackson itself is a community where the timber industry and a paper mill anchor the local economy. Manufacturing accounts for a notable share of employment, and the education and health care sectors also play a role. The city has seen population decline in recent years and is not growing. Housing values are modest; a typical home in the zip code is well below both the state and national benchmarks for home values. For families looking at the area, the housing market is more affordable than many parts of Alabama, but the local economy does not appear to be expanding rapidly.
The school sits within a small city where most daily life is car-dependent. Schools are distributed across different parts of town rather than concentrated on a single campus. Coastal Alabama Community College maintains a presence in the former middle school building, offering some postsecondary access locally. The school itself does not serve grades beyond eighth, so students then move on to Jackson High School.
There are no major program offerings listed for the middle school in the available data, and information on course access or extracurricular breadth was not available. A parent considering the school may want to learn what electives, arts programs, or career-oriented courses are available at the middle school level.
Given the low math proficiency rates and the absence of multi-year data, a parent may want to look into this further with the school. The school's strengths in English language arts suggest some solid instruction in that area, but the gap between ELA and math results is wide enough to warrant a conversation about how math is taught and where support is targeted. The high economic need rate also means that the school likely benefits from federal Title I funding and related supports, though the available data did not confirm the school's Title I status. A parent who prioritizes a school with strong academic foundations in numeracy may find this a challenging environment, while one whose main concern is literacy and community fit within a small, rural, economically modest setting may find it a reasonable option.
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