Summary:
In zip code 35022, there is exactly one middle school, Empower Community School Upper Campus, serving grades 4 through 8 with a total enrollment of 211 students.
For parents considering this area, the most important takeaway is that Empower Community School Upper Campus faces significant academic challenges. The school is ranked 405 out of 443 Alabama middle schools (9th percentile), and its district, Empower Schools of Alabama, is ranked 136 out of 139 districts (2nd percentile). The most alarming data point is in mathematics, where proficiency rates range from 0% in 5th grade to just 6.12% in 8th grade, compared to state averages between 24% and 42%. This represents a near-total lack of grade-level math mastery. Science proficiency is also low, with only 26.67% of 4th graders and 22.45% of 8th graders meeting standards, versus state averages above 50%. English/Language Arts is the relative strength of the school, with proficiency rates between 26.09% and 43.33%, though still trailing state averages by roughly 20-30 percentage points in every grade.
The school serves a high-poverty population, with 76.3% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, which provides important context for the academic data. Chronic absenteeism stands at 12.1%, slightly above the state average of 12.0% and notably higher than the district average of 9.8%. Since this is the only school in the district serving these grades, the district's poor ranking directly reflects this single school's performance. One notable gap in the data is the absence of a student-teacher ratio, which would be valuable for understanding class sizes and resource allocation at a school with such significant academic needs. For parents, this school clearly requires strong supplemental support at home, particularly in mathematics, where intervention is urgently needed.
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