Middle Schools in Linden City

The Linden City school district is home to just one middle school, George P Austin Junior High School, which serves grades 6 through 8 in a small, predominantly low-income community where nearly 91% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

With only 77 students, this is an exceptionally small school, and that size creates both opportunities and challenges. The student-teacher ratio of 15.4:1 is favorable, and per-student spending of $11,010 is above the national average. The school has shown steady improvement in its state ranking over the past three years, moving from 390th to 320th out of roughly 440 Alabama middle schools, though it still remains in the bottom third and holds a 1-star rating. The most impressive bright spot is 8th grade science, where 61% of students are proficient—actually beating the state average of 54%—and scores nearly doubled from the previous year. English performance is also trending upward, with 7th grade jumping from 32% to 48% proficiency and 8th grade reaching 50%, closing the gap with state averages to within about 7 points.

Mathematics remains the school's biggest concern, with proficiency rates between just 3.7% and 9.1% across grade levels—roughly 20 to 30 points below state averages. Chronic absenteeism sits at 13.4%, slightly above the state rate of 12% but below the district's 15.6%, which translates to about 10 students. Because the school is so small, year-to-year swings can be dramatic—a single cohort can shift scores by 30 points—but that also means targeted interventions in math and attendance could have an outsized impact. Overall, this is a school on an upward trajectory, with strengths in science and improving English scores, but with math proficiency as a critical area needing focused attention.