Cottondale High School, Cottondale FL

Original Research by School Decision on Cottondale High School

Cottondale High School sits on Levy Street along U.S. Route 90 in Cottondale, a small rural town in western Jackson County in the Florida Panhandle. The school runs grades six through twelve, making it the single building that takes a child from middle school all the way through graduation. It shares highway frontage with Cottondale Elementary next door, so the town's entire public school pathway is essentially one campus.

The school is a modest size for a combined middle-high configuration. About half of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing it squarely among schools serving a lower-income population, which reflects Cottondale's broader economic reality as a community with elevated poverty rates relative to state and national norms. The student body is majority white, with Black and multiracial students making up a meaningful share and smaller Hispanic and American Indian populations present as well. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture across the middle grades is mixed but worth reading carefully. Sixth and seventh grade math results sit solidly above the majority of Florida schools, which is a genuine strength and likely reflects consistent instruction across those years. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade ELA results also hold up reasonably well. The sharp drop in eighth grade math is the pattern a parent should take note of and ask the school about directly, because it stands apart from the sixth and seventh grade results in a way that suggests something specific to that grade level rather than a schoolwide pattern. Eighth grade science falls in the middle range. No state assessment data was reported for the high school grades, which is not uncommon given how Florida structures its high school testing, but it means the academic picture for grades nine through twelve relies more on what a family can learn directly from the school than from public data here.

A graduation rate was not available in the data provided.

Program information was not included in what was provided for this school, so it is not possible to characterize AP access, dual enrollment, or career pathway offerings from this profile. That is a real gap for families weighing the high school years, and it would be worth asking the school directly what courses are available in grades nine through twelve.

The community around the school is a low-density, car-dependent small town. Publicly reported sources describe Cottondale as the self-styled "Crossroads of the Panhandle," with roots in cotton production and a built environment organized around two highway corridors. Larger employers and more specialized services are generally found in nearby Marianna rather than in town. The local civic anchors are a recreational park that recently received state grant funding for renovations and a modest downtown commercial strip that the city is working to revitalize with state and federal grants following Hurricane Michael's damage. Housing values here are well below both the Florida and national medians, which makes the area among the more affordable entry points in the state for buyers.

Within Jackson County, the comparison set for this school is limited to one district, so no meaningful peer ranking is possible from the data.

At the district level, Jackson County voters recently renewed a half-cent sales tax dedicated to school facilities and technology, which publicly reported sources indicate secures funding for building maintenance and the district's one-to-one device program. The district is also consolidating elementary and middle students from the Grand Ridge and Sneads areas into a new state-funded school, and a separate proposal to reconfigure Marianna's middle-to-high transition was still under community review as of early 2026. Neither of those changes directly affects Cottondale's campus structure.

For a family in Cottondale, this school is the pathway, not one option among several. The strong results in the sixth and seventh grade years are an encouraging sign. The eighth grade math gap and the absence of high school performance data are the places where a direct conversation with school leadership would give a clearer picture than any public profile can.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 52 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.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 49% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 60% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 35% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 60% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 776%

School 76% · District 58% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 60% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median

Science

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 46%

even with state median

This schoolJACKSON, 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-income69%Higher-income65%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income64%Higher-income88%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income74%Higher-income66%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income72%Higher-income75%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income88%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income17%23 pp gap