Middle Schools in Birmingham City

The 8 middle schools in the Birmingham City district serve grades 6-8 and collectively enroll about 2,800 students in a district ranked in the bottom 14% of Alabama school districts, with all schools facing significant academic challenges and high economic disadvantage (averaging 85% free/reduced lunch eligibility).

For parents, the standout choice is Green Acres Middle School, which leads the pack with the highest state ranking (387th of 443), the best math scores (10.98% in 6th grade, nearly double the next school), strong English proficiency (37.8% in 6th grade), and by far the lowest chronic absenteeism at just 2.8%—compared to the district average of 13.1%. Bush Hills STEAM Academy is the most improved, climbing from the 3rd to 8th percentile over two years, with excellent attendance (4.1% absenteeism) and strong 7th grade English (38.18%). On the other end, Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School has declined sharply, dropping to 433rd place with zero math proficiency in 7th and 8th grades, while WE Putnam Middle SchoolMagnet—despite the best student-teacher ratio (10.8:1)—suffers from 27.1% chronic absenteeism and low scores.

A striking pattern across all schools is the massive gap between English and math: average English proficiency is about 28%, while math averages just 3.3%, and math scores decline as students advance from 6th to 8th grade. Interestingly, Wilkerson Middle School defies expectations with the worst student-teacher ratio (35.3:1) yet achieves the best science scores (28.97%, above the district average), while Smith Middle School spends the least per student ($8,907) but outperforms several higher-funded schools. Jones Valley Middle School and Huffman Middle School sit in the middle range, with Huffman showing the lowest science scores (8.59%). The takeaway: attendance and school-level factors matter more than funding or class size, and while the district faces systemic hurdles, schools like Green Acres prove progress is possible.