Original Research by School Decision on Dale County High School
Dale County High School is a regular public high school serving grades nine through twelve in Midland City, a small, predominantly rural town in southeastern Alabama. The school is part of the Dale County school system. The town itself sits along highways between Ozark and Dothan, and its workforce is spread across education, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and public administration. The environment is low-density and car-dependent, with no traditional walkable downtown core. The town has experienced population growth in recent years, and housing values in the area sit below both state and national medians, making it a relatively affordable place to live.
The high school enrolls a few hundred students. The student body is majority white, with a substantial Black or African American population and smaller shares of Hispanic, two or more races, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families face economic challenges. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records provided, so a family wanting to understand those supports would need to inquire directly with the school.
State assessment results are available for a single school year, and they show that proficiency rates across English language arts, math, and science cluster at or below about a quarter of tested students. The math proficiency rate was the lowest of the three. These are single-year snapshots, not trends, and there is no earlier data to compare them against. The school also does not report a graduation rate in the available data. Because the school serves a full high school grade span, a graduation rate would typically be expected, but it is not present in the source material. A parent or resident should ask the school or district for this information and for an explanation of how academic supports are structured for students who are not yet meeting proficiency benchmarks.
No program offerings, staffing ratios, discipline data, or chronic absenteeism figures were available. The school’s type is listed as a regular school, and it is not a charter or magnet school. The Title I status is not reported, though the high share of students from low-income households suggests the school may receive related federal funding. Without course access data, it is not possible to describe the breadth of Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, career and technical education, or other pathways.
The Dale County district did not have recent parent-relevant changes reported in the research for this profile. The comparison fact set that would place this school’s performance relative to other school districts in Dale County could not be applied because the key metrics were missing at the school level.
In sum, Dale County High School serves a mostly low-income student body in a small rural town. The single-year state test results are low, and the absence of a reported graduation rate and program details leaves notable gaps. Families considering this school will want to follow up with administrators about academic supports, post-graduation outcomes, and course offerings to get a fuller picture of the day-to-day experience and the opportunities available to students.
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