Summary:
Middle Schools in zip code 35768 (Scottsboro, AL) consist of two schools within the Scottsboro City district, serving grades 4 through 8 and together educating roughly 894 students.
For parents comparing the two schools, Collins Intermediate School (grades 4-6) is the clear academic leader, especially in math. Its 5th and 6th graders posted proficiency rates of 58.58% and 56.82%, respectively, far exceeding state averages, and 6th-grade math improved by an impressive 18.6 percentage points year-over-year. In contrast, Scottsboro Junior High School (grades 7-8) has seen its state ranking slip from the 81st to 58th percentile, driven by a sharp drop in 7th-grade English proficiency (from 70.45% to 57.47%) and math scores that remain below state averages. The most striking finding is the "math cliff": Collins 6th graders hit 56.82% proficiency, but Scottsboro 7th graders plummet to just 21.84%—a 35-point drop that suggests a difficult transition to junior high. Science is a shared strength, with Scottsboro Junior High posting 60.23% proficiency in 8th-grade science and Collins excelling in 4th-grade science (65.41%).
Other key metrics show Collins has a higher chronic absenteeism rate (13.6% vs. 8.9% at Scottsboro Junior High) and a higher student-teacher ratio (19.5:1 vs. 17.5:1), yet still outperforms academically—indicating absenteeism and class size are not the main drivers of the junior high's struggles. Collins also serves a slightly more economically disadvantaged population (53.9% free/reduced lunch vs. 47.75%) and spends marginally more per student ($9,552 vs. $9,158). English scores are volatile at both schools, with double-digit drops in 5th and 7th grades, a trend worth monitoring. Since both schools share district-level metrics, any intervention at the junior high would significantly impact the district's overall ranking.
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