Meek High School, Arley AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Meek High School

Meek High School serves grades five through twelve in the small, rural town of Arley, Alabama, as part of the Winston County school district. The school sits within the William B. Bankhead National Forest, a short distance from Lewis Smith Lake, in a region of forested, rolling hills. Arley itself is a very small town whose population has been relatively stagnant or declining, with a workforce spread across education, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, and public administration. No single large employer dominates. Annual community events include the Chittlin' Supper fundraiser and the Arley Day Festival. The town's character is distinctly rural, with little pedestrian infrastructure and no downtown separation; schools and civic buildings are simply part of the landscape.

Meek High is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. Its enrollment is small for a school spanning eight grade levels, and the student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small populations of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a substantial share of families face economic pressures. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported.

Academic proficiency on the state's ACAP assessments shows a steep grade-level pattern in math. In fifth grade, most students met the proficiency benchmark. By sixth grade, the share dropped to about a third. By seventh grade, fewer than one in ten reached the bar, and by eighth grade, the rate fell to a very small percentage. In English language arts, proficiency was high in fifth grade, with the large majority of students meeting the standard. In grades six through eight, proficiency rates fell, settling around half to just over half of students. Eighth-grade science results showed about a third of students proficient. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quartile among the two districts in Winston County. Because this is the first year of this assessment data, there is no multi-year trend to examine for improvement or decline.

The school has no graduation rate to report in the data provided. The absence of this metric may reflect data collection timing or the grade band configuration; a parent should confirm with the school directly whether a senior class graduated and what the rate was.

Housing in the area is notably expensive for the region. Home values in the zip code that includes Arley are roughly double the statewide median and well above the national benchmark, a pattern that stands out given the town's small, rural economy. For a family considering a move to the district, affordability relative to local wages is an important question to investigate.

The district brief for Winston County schools did not surface any recent changes, strategic initiatives, or program shifts of lasting impact, so none are reported here.

Meek High School offers a single-building experience for late-elementary through high school in a close-knit, rural community. The academic picture is mixed: strong early literacy and math proficiency gives way to much lower performance as students move into middle school, particularly in mathematics. The small size means individual students are likely well known to staff, which can be an advantage for families who value a personal environment. Families considering this school should look into how the school supports students who are not yet proficient in middle school math and science, and should ask about the high school course offerings and graduation pathways, as that data was not available in this profile.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 31 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 569%

School 69% · District 43% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 36% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 79%

School 9% · District 10% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 83%

School 3% · District 14% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 589%

School 89% · District 78% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 57% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 54% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 57% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 40% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

This schoolWinston 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.