Tipton Durant Middle School, Selma AL

Original Research by School Decision on Tipton Durant Middle School

Tipton Durant Middle School is a regular public school serving grades six through eight in Selma, Alabama, within the Dallas County school district. It sits in a small city that has seen a long-term population decline and significant economic hardship. The school itself is small, with an enrollment counted in the low hundreds, and the vast majority of students come from low-income households. The student body is predominantly African American, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding community.

State assessment results from the most recent year paint a difficult picture. In mathematics, across all three tested grades, no student reached the proficient level. In reading and English language arts, roughly one in six students scored proficient, with rates varying slightly by grade but staying in that range. Science results for eighth grade were even lower, with only a very small fraction of students meeting the proficiency bar. These are the only state assessment data available for this school, covering a single school year, so there is no trend to compare against. When placed alongside other districts in Dallas County, Tipton Durant’s overall proficiency index ranks at the bottom of that small group. Because the county has only two school districts, that placement effectively means it is the lower-performing of the two.

The school’s academic challenges exist in a community that faces deep economic pressures. Selma is a city with a median household income well below state and national averages, a poverty rate that touches roughly a third of residents, and a population that has shrunk for decades as manufacturing and agriculture declined. Home values in the area are relatively low, and the local economy leans on government, healthcare, and heritage tourism. No major new housing development or population growth is underway; the city is still recovering from a destructive tornado in early 2023. For families, this context means that the school draws from a neighborhood with limited economic resources and that the district itself operates under financial constraints common in rural Alabama communities.

Tipton Durant is a middle school only, so there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not have data on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, course access, or staffing that were available for this profile. Information on special education and English learner populations was also missing from the data set. These gaps limit a fuller picture of student support and school climate. A parent considering this school may want to ask the administration directly about those areas, as well as about specific programs or interventions in place for math and reading.

In short, Tipton Durant Middle School serves a high-poverty, predominantly African American student body in a struggling economy, with state assessment results that reflect deep academic need across all tested subjects. The school is the lower-performing of the two districts in Dallas County by this measure. With limited supplementary data available, a family exploring this option would benefit from visiting the school and speaking with staff about the instructional supports, extracurricular offerings, and daily environment that these numbers do not capture.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 10% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 70%

School 0% · District 6% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 1% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 37% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 30% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 35% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median

Science

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 19% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

This schoolDallas 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 6Lower-income18%Higher-income0%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap