Summary:
Zip code 35674 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, is served by 7 public schools spanning pre-K through 12th grade across two districts, Tuscumbia City and Colbert County, with a total enrollment of about 2,709 students.
The standout school in this area is New Bethel Elementary School, which earns a 5-star rating and ranks in the top 7% of Alabama elementary schools. Its math and English proficiency rates (74.8% and 84.8%) are 30 and 19 points above state averages, respectively, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 7.1% is less than half the rate of every other school in the zip code. In contrast, Deshler High School has seen its state ranking fall sharply from 83rd to 202nd over two years, though it still graduates 97% of its students. Colbert Heights High School leads the area with a 98.5% graduation rate and outperforms Deshler High in English (35.7% vs. 27.0%) and science (36.6% vs. 31.3%). Among elementary schools, R E Thompson Intermediate School (50.1% math) and Colbert Heights Elementary School (43.6% math) trail New Bethel significantly, while G W Trenholm Primary School and Deshler Middle School round out the district with consistent student-teacher ratios around 15:1.
A major concern is the proficiency cliff between elementary and high school: elementary math averages around 55-60% proficient, but 11th-grade math drops to roughly 17% at both high schools, well below the 27.2% state average. Chronic absenteeism is also a systemic issue, with 5 of 7 schools exceeding the 12% state average, including Colbert Heights Elementary School (20.7%) and R E Thompson Intermediate School (20.3%). Economically, over half of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, yet New Bethel Elementary School proves that high achievement is possible despite moderate poverty, suggesting that its strong attendance culture and small-school environment (159 students) are key drivers worth replicating across the community.
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