South Lamar School, Millport AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on South Lamar School

South Lamar School serves students from prekindergarten through twelfth grade in Millport, a small, mainly residential town in rural west Alabama. The school draws from a community that has seen a slight population decline over the past two decades and faced a period of financial distress from which it has since stabilized. Housing here is notably affordable relative to state and national averages, and the town is car-dependent, with State Highways 96 and 17 providing the main routes. The school is woven into the small-town fabric as the only K-12 school in Millport, part of the Lamar County system. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that economic need is a factor for many families.

Academically, South Lamar's state assessment results from the 2024-25 school year offer a mixed picture that varies by grade and subject. In English language arts, a majority of tested students met proficiency standards across grades three through eight, with particularly strong performance in third and seventh grades; the other grades showed solid but lower proficiency rates. Math results follow a pattern common in many schools: early elementary grades performed well, with a comfortable majority of third graders reaching proficiency, while rates declined as students moved into middle school, where less than half of seventh and eighth graders met the bar. Science results, available for fourth and eighth grades, showed a moderate share proficient in fourth grade and a smaller share in eighth grade. Because state testing in Alabama covers grades three through eight, results for high school grades are not included in this data set. Graduation rate information was also missing from the available records, which is a gap a parent may want to follow up on with the school directly.

The school's peer environment reflects the demographics of its rural community. The student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of Black students and small groups of multiracial and Hispanic students. Enrollment is steady across grades, with a slightly larger kindergarten cohort than other grades, which is typical. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and no information was available on whether it receives Title I funding. Program offerings such as Advanced Placement courses, dual enrollment, or career and technical education pathways were not detailed in the data provided, so families interested in those options would need to ask the school what is available at the high school level.

The housing market context gives a clear picture of local affordability. Home values in the area are well below both the Alabama median and the national median, and prices have ticked downward over the past year. For a family considering a move, this means housing costs are modest, though the local job market is anchored by education, healthcare, manufacturing, and services, with Weyerabuser historically a major employer. The town's infrastructure focus lately has been on drainage and creek relief, reflecting its creek-bordered geography.

South Lamar School appears to fit families who value a small, familiar K-12 setting with a single campus that keeps siblings in one building through graduation. The academic picture is strongest in early literacy and elementary math, while middle school math and science are areas where a parent might want to ask about support programs. With no specific recent district-level changes reported and no program catalog in the data, the school's day-to-day character is best assessed through a visit and conversation with staff. For a family seeking a low-cost housing market and a tight-knit rural school community, this is a plausible match, but the gaps in high school outcome data mean that a fuller picture requires reaching out to the school directly.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 37 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 372%

School 72% · District 70% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 66% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 57% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 61% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 29% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 30% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 78% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 73% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 80% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 66% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 782%

School 82% · District 67% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 58% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Science

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 43% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median

This schoolLamar 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.