Summary:
Florence City is home to a single middle school, Florence Middle School, which serves grades 7 and 8 with a substantial enrollment of 663 students, and is part of the Florence City district, ranked 46th out of 139 districts in Alabama (67th percentile, 3 stars).
For parents, the most important takeaway is that this school shows a clear academic split: students are performing well in English and Science, but struggling significantly in Math. In 2025-2026, 8th-grade Science proficiency was 52.88% and English proficiency was 52.19%, while Math proficiency was just 26.73% for 8th graders and 28.28% for 7th graders. This suggests strong literacy and scientific reasoning skills, but a critical need for targeted math intervention. Another concern is the school's declining state ranking, which has dropped from the 79th percentile (4 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 59th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-2026. However, this drop is likely due to other schools improving faster, as Florence Middle School's own test scores have remained stable or even improved slightly. The school also has a high chronic absenteeism rate of 18.5%, compared to the state average of 12.0%, which is a potential red flag for student engagement, even though English and Science scores remain at or above state averages.
On the resource side, the school spends $12,862 per student (2018-2019 data) and has a student-teacher ratio of 17.2. With 55.66% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, the school serves a economically diverse population. The key question for parents is whether these resources are being effectively directed toward addressing the math deficit, which is the school's most significant academic challenge. Overall, Florence Middle School is a solid, above-average school in many respects, but its math scores and rising absenteeism are areas that warrant close attention from the school community.
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