Summary:
Zip code 35967 is home to just one middle school, Fort Payne Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 741 students in the Fort Payne City district, a top-quartile district in Alabama.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Fort Payne Middle School is a solid, mid-to-high performer with clear strengths in English and Science, but with a notable weakness in math for younger grades. In the most recent school year, 8th graders excelled, with 66.11% proficiency in English (beating the state by over 7 points) and 61.09% in Science (well above the state's 54.12%). The 8th-grade math performance was also a bright spot at 33.89% proficiency, far exceeding the state average of 26.36%. However, 6th and 7th graders struggled in math, with proficiency rates of 27.43% and 23.97%, respectively, both below state averages. This pattern suggests a strong 8th-grade team or targeted interventions that help students catch up by their final year. The school's state ranking has been volatile, jumping from 153rd to 101st, then settling at 141st, which mirrors the inconsistent math scores.
Despite over 63% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school achieves above-average results in English and Science, indicating effective resource use. Chronic absenteeism sits at 10.9%, slightly below the state average of 12.0% but a touch above the district's 10.4%. Per-student spending is $7,069, and the student-teacher ratio is 15.7. The main area for improvement is clearly 6th and 7th-grade math, where scores dipped in the latest year. If your child is entering 6th or 7th grade, you may want to pay extra attention to math support, while 8th graders appear to benefit from a particularly strong academic environment.
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