Dunbar Creative Performing Arts, Mobile AL

Original Research by School Decision on Dunbar Creative Performing Arts

Dunbar Creative Performing Arts is a mid-size public middle school in Mobile, Alabama, serving grades six through eight as a regular school within the Mobile County Public School System. The school’s name signals its emphasis on the arts, though the available data does not detail specific program offerings or course pathways in that area. The student body is predominantly Black, with a large share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school draws from a community where the typical home value falls well short of state and national benchmarks, and the wider Mobile area is a mid-size port city with a mix of industrial and commercial character, anchored by aerospace manufacturing, shipbuilding, and the Port of Mobile.

Academically, Dunbar presents a sharp split across subjects that a parent would want to examine closely. On state assessments, the school posts strong results in English language arts and science. The largest share of students across grades six through eight meet or exceed proficiency in ELA, with the eighth-grade cohort performing at an especially high level. Eighth-grade science results also come in solid. Math, however, is a significantly weaker area. The share of students reaching proficiency in math is low across all three grade levels. This gap between strong literacy and science scores and steep difficulty in math is a clear pattern. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, sits above the midpoint among districts in Mobile County, reflecting the pull of the strong ELA and science outcomes. Because the school only covers the middle school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was also absent from the available record, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns.

The student environment is shaped by the school’s location on Saint Anthony Street in Mobile. The city is large and car-dependent outside its downtown core, where the school is situated. Walkability and street life are concentrated downtown along Dauphin Street, and Bienville Square is a nearby historic public square. Major employers like the Port of Mobile, Airbus, and Austal USA drive the local economy, and the 2023 west annexation expanded the city’s population and shifted its demographics. The district brief showed no recent changes of lasting impact.

For a family considering this school, the standout strength is the high performance in reading and science, which suggests a student who is strong in language-heavy subjects may thrive. The persistent weakness in math calls for careful attention. A parent may want to understand what math interventions or supports are in place and whether the school’s creative arts focus shapes the academic day. The student body is economically diverse, with a majority qualifying for meal assistance, and the school’s demographic profile leans heavily Black. The setting is urban but not dense outside the immediate downtown area. Without more detail on specific arts programs or course access, a family whose priority is a structured arts curriculum should seek that information directly from the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 25% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 716%

School 16% · District 19% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 18% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 49% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 53% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 883%

School 83% · District 52% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Science

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 40% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

This schoolMobile 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 7Lower-income68%Higher-income59%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income82%Higher-income85%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income18%4 pp gap