Summary:
The 39702 zip code area is home to 6 schools spanning elementary, middle, and high school grades, spread across two different school districts - Lowndes County School District and Columbus Municipal School District. While the schools in the Lowndes County district, such as New Hope Middle School and New Hope High School, consistently perform well and rank among the top schools in the state, the schools in the Columbus Municipal district, including Columbus High School and the two elementary schools, struggle with significantly lower test scores and rankings.
The data reveals stark contrasts in academic performance, with the Lowndes County schools boasting higher proficiency rates on state assessments and better overall ratings from SchoolDigger. In contrast, the Columbus Municipal schools often fall 10-20 percentage points below the state averages in test scores. Interestingly, all the schools in the 39702 area have very high rates of free and reduced-price lunch recipients, suggesting that socioeconomic factors may play a role in the performance differences observed.
Despite the consistent spending per student and student-teacher ratios across the schools, the data highlights the importance of district-level factors in shaping educational outcomes. The significant gap between the Lowndes County and Columbus Municipal school districts indicates that leadership, policies, and resource allocation at the district level may be key drivers of the contrasting school performances within the same zip code area.
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