Middle Schools in Sylacauga City

Middle schools in Sylacauga City, Alabama, are represented by a single institution, Nichols-Lawson Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 446 students within the Sylacauga City district, a system ranked 70th out of 139 districts statewide.

For parents, the most important takeaway is that this school shows a clear split in academic strengths. The standout performance is in 8th-grade English, where 68.49% of students are proficient—a full 10 points above the state average—and 8th-grade Science is also a bright spot at 57.93% proficiency, beating the state by nearly 4 points. However, Mathematics is a consistent weakness at every grade level, with proficiency rates ranging from 17.33% (7th grade) to 31.69% (6th grade), all trailing state averages by 3.5 to 8.5 points. The school also shows dramatic year-over-year swings, such as a 16-point jump in 8th-grade Science and a 12-point gain in 8th-grade English, but also a 10-point drop in 7th-grade Math. This volatility suggests that performance can shift significantly from year to year, possibly due to changing student cohorts.

Despite having 60% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the school maintains a chronic absenteeism rate of 11.2%, which is better than both the state average (12.0%) and the district average (17.7%). The student-teacher ratio is a reasonable 15.3:1, and per-student spending is $9,574. The school’s state ranking has slipped from 171st to 200th out of 442 schools over two years, even as some test scores improved, indicating that other schools are advancing faster. Overall, Nichols-Lawson Middle School offers strong English and Science instruction, but parents should be aware that math achievement is a significant area needing attention, and the 7th-grade year appears to be a particular challenge.