Summary:
Lawrence County, Alabama is served by two middle schools—Moulton Middle School and East Lawrence Middle School—both covering grades 5 through 8 in a rural district that ranks in the bottom third of Alabama schools.
Overall, Moulton Middle School is the stronger performer. It holds a better state ranking (34th percentile vs. 23rd percentile for 2025-2026) and outpaces East Lawrence in most subjects and grade levels. Moulton also has a lower share of students on free/reduced lunch (53.47% vs. 68.22%), which often correlates with academic advantages. However, East Lawrence Middle School shines in one critical area: its chronic absenteeism rate is just 2.0%, compared to Moulton’s 13.0% and the state average of 12.0%. East Lawrence also posted a standout 5th-grade English score of 69.77% in 2024-2025, beating the state average. Both schools share an identical student-teacher ratio of 20.2:1, and East Lawrence actually spends more per student ($7,270 vs. $6,763), yet that extra funding hasn’t translated into higher test scores.
The biggest concern across the district is mathematics. Proficiency rates are alarmingly low—7th-grade math sits at 7.26% for Moulton and 11.25% for East Lawrence, versus the state’s 24.46%. English scores are far healthier, with Moulton’s 5th-grade proficiency reaching 67.26%, close to the state’s 69.53%. There’s also a notable shift in 7th-grade English: Moulton dropped from 44.35% to 35.48% while East Lawrence jumped from 30.65% to 43.04%, flipping the two schools’ positions. For parents, this means Moulton offers steadier overall academics, but East Lawrence deserves credit for exceptional attendance and early-grade literacy. The district as a whole would benefit from targeted math interventions, especially for 7th and 8th graders, and from studying East Lawrence’s attendance strategies to replicate them elsewhere.
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