The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in English language arts. The lowest is 29% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Buckhorn Middle School
Buckhorn Middle School serves seventh and eighth graders in the northeastern corner of Madison County, drawing from the unincorporated community of New Market and the surrounding rural area. The school is part of the Madison County school district and feeds into Buckhorn High School, which is nearby. For a family looking at this school, the picture that emerges is one of a mid-sized middle school where English language arts is a clear strength, math proficiency is a challenge the school is working with, and the setting is quiet and rural with limited growth.
On state assessments, the school’s performance splits noticeably by subject. In English language arts, a solid majority of seventh graders and a similar share of eighth graders met the proficiency bar. Science, tested in eighth grade, fell somewhere in between, with slightly less than half of students reaching proficiency. Math was the softest area: about three in ten seventh graders and just over a quarter of eighth graders were proficient. The school’s overall proficiency index across all subjects and tested grades placed it below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Madison County. A parent may want to ask the school what supports are in place for math instruction and whether there are specific interventions for students who are below grade level.
The student body is predominantly white, with Black students making up the second-largest group, followed by smaller shares of Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and multiracial students. About two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that falls in a moderate range. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation, and it does not report Title I status in the data available. Information on special education and English learner populations was not available in the data provided.
New Market itself is a small, unincorporated community that has seen population decline over the past two decades. It is rural and low-density, with no sewer service, limited commercial activity, and a historic crossroads that once anchored a thriving trade center. Many of the old commercial buildings were lost to a fire decades ago. The civic fabric today is built around historic churches, a volunteer fire department, and the county sheriff’s coverage. The Mountain Fork of the Flint River runs through the north part of the community, and to the east rises Backbone Mountain. Housing values in the area are in line with the national typical range, though they have seen a modest and recent decline. Rents are a bit higher than a typical mortgage payment for a home purchase, but the cost of renting relative to income is manageable.
The Madison County school district provides the operational framework, but no recent changes specific to curriculum, boundaries, or policy were found in the data to report. The absence of that information likely reflects the district’s stability rather than any particular activity.
For a family considering Buckhorn Middle School, the academic picture is mixed: strong reading and writing scores give a solid foundation, and the science results are reasonable, but the math scores are considerably lower. The setting is genuinely rural, quiet, and low-growth, without the amenities of a town or city. A parent who values a small-community school environment and whose child is strong in language arts may find a good fit here. A parent whose child needs math support will want to investigate early what remediation or acceleration options the school provides, since that is the area where the data suggests the most room for growth.
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