Summary:
There is only one middle school located in the city of Bessemer, Alabama - Bessemer City Middle School. This school serves grades 6-8 and is part of the Bessemer City school district. Based on the available data, Bessemer City Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom 10-15% of Alabama middle schools over the past 3 school years, indicating significant challenges in providing a high-quality education to its students.
The school's performance on standardized tests is significantly below the state average across all subjects and grade levels. For example, in 2024-2025, only 6-7% of 6th-8th grade students were proficient in math, compared to the state average of 24-34%. English language arts proficiency rates are also low, ranging from 15-30% proficient compared to the state average of 54-57%. Additionally, the school's 8th grade science proficiency rate was only 7% in 2024-2025, compared to the state average of 42%. These academic performance gaps suggest that many students at Bessemer City Middle School are not meeting grade-level expectations in core subjects.
Demographic and socioeconomic factors may be contributing to the school's challenges. Bessemer City Middle School has a high percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, at 88.27% in 2023-2024, and the school's per-student spending was below the national average in 2018-2019. Additionally, the school had a chronic absenteeism rate of 14.8% in 2023-2024, which is higher than the national average for middle schools. Addressing these resource constraints and attendance issues could be crucial for improving student outcomes at Bessemer City Middle School.
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