Zion Chapel High School, Jack AL

Original Research by School Decision on Zion Chapel High School

Zion Chapel High School serves the full span from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in the rural, unincorporated community of Jack, Alabama, and it functions as the single K-12 school for the area. The school sits on Alabama State Route 87, and civic life here essentially revolves around the school itself. The community is small, with a post office, a few local businesses, and nearby lakes offering fishing and hiking. The housing market is highly affordable, and homeownership is common. Growth pressure appears minimal, with a noticeable share of vacant housing units reported.

The student body is overwhelmingly white, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is part of the Coffee County district.

Academic performance on the state assessments presents a varied picture, and a parent would want to look at grade-level results closely. In the early elementary grades, proficiency rates in both English language arts and math are quite strong, with a large majority of third, fourth, and fifth graders meeting the state bar. In science at grade four, the share is also strong. However, later grades show a steep decline. By seventh grade, the share of students proficient in math is much lower, and by eighth grade it is very low. Eighth-grade science follows the same pattern, with only a modest share reaching proficiency. English language arts in seventh and eighth grade, while higher than math, also shows a meaningful drop from the elementary grades. The school's overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades lands above the midpoint compared to other districts in Coffee County, but the pronounced falloff in middle school math and science is a soft spot a parent should investigate further with the school to understand the support available.

Because this school covers all grades, it does not have a separate, standalone high school graduation rate reported in the available data, though as a K-12 school it will have graduating seniors. The district has been expanding career technical education at Zion Chapel, adding programs in welding, healthcare science, and information technology starting in the 2025-2026 school year, funded through state CTE grants and local dollars. Dual enrollment partnerships with Enterprise State Community College have also been broadened, offering high school students college credit in STEM, business, and healthcare fields. Voters in Coffee County approved a renewal of an existing property tax that sustains funding for teacher salaries, instructional materials, and facility maintenance without raising rates, which provides the district with long-term financial stability.

For a family considering this school, the primary academic strength is in the early grades, where literacy and math foundations are solid. The student peer environment is one of very limited racial and ethnic diversity, which is a characteristic of the community itself. The middle school years are where performance weakens notably, especially in math and science, and this is the main question a parent would want to explore. The setting is car-dependent and rural, with no downtown beyond the school and post office. The school is the center of community life, not a separate campus arrangement. For a family that values a small, integrated K-12 setting in a quiet rural area with affordable housing and a district making a deliberate push into career and technical pathways, Zion Chapel fits that profile. The middle school academic dip, though, is not a minor issue, and it would be worth a direct conversation with the school about what interventions or supports are in place for those grades.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 54 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

373 schools plotted. 7 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 58% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 63% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 58% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 50% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 25% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 20% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 383%

School 83% · District 76% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 484%

School 84% · District 73% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 79% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 64% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 67% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 60% · ▼ 9 pts below district

even with state median

Science

Grade 476%

School 76% · District 61% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 36% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median

This schoolCoffee 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 3Lower-income78%Higher-income89%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income7%Higher-income0%6 pp gap