Summary:
Muscle Shoals, Alabama is served by a single middle school, Muscle Shoals Middle School, which enrolls 642 students in grades 6 through 8 within the Muscle Shoals City school district.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that this is a consistently high-performing school. It has earned a 5-star rating for three consecutive years and ranks in the 91st–93rd percentile statewide. The school’s greatest academic strength is English/language arts, where proficiency rates (73–76%) run roughly 16–20 points above the state average in every grade. Math performance is also strong, with proficiency rates more than double the state average in 7th and 8th grades. However, there is notable year-to-year volatility in math scores—8th-grade math proficiency dropped sharply from 68.8% to 53.2% between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, while 7th-grade math improved by nearly 15 points. This suggests the school’s math outcomes can fluctuate significantly by cohort, so it is worth monitoring. Science proficiency (68%) also exceeds the state average by 14 points, though the gap is narrower than in other subjects.
Beyond test scores, the school stands out for its exceptionally low chronic absenteeism rate of just 5.5%, less than half the district rate (10.4%) and well below the state average (12.0%). This is particularly notable given that about one-third of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. With a student-teacher ratio of 16.4:1 and per-student spending of $9,009, the school achieves strong results with moderate resources. The only slight concern is a ranking dip from 30th to 40th in the state, but the school remains firmly in the top 10% of Alabama middle schools. Overall, Muscle Shoals Middle School offers a rigorous, well-rounded education with particular excellence in literacy and strong attendance culture.
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