Summary:
Zip code 35976 is home to a single middle school, Guntersville Middle School, which serves grades 6-8 and enrolls 381 students within the highly-rated Guntersville City school district.
For parents, this school offers a strong, stable educational environment. The district itself ranks in the top 17% of all Alabama districts with a 4-star rating, and the school has maintained that same 4-star rating for three consecutive years. Academically, the school’s biggest strength is English Language Arts, where it outperforms the state average in every grade level. The 7th grade is particularly exceptional, with a 76.19% proficiency rate—nearly 21 points above the state average. Mathematics is more of a mixed picture: 6th and 7th graders score above state averages, but 8th grade math is a clear weakness at just 19.05% proficiency, which is 7.3 points below the state average and represents a sharp decline from that same cohort’s 52.78% proficiency in 6th grade. Science performance in 8th grade is essentially at the state average.
Beyond test scores, the school stands out for its very low chronic absenteeism rate of 8.9%, which is significantly better than both the district (14.6%) and state (12.0%) averages. This strong attendance likely contributes to academic success. Notably, the school achieves above-average results in most subjects even though 53.81% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school’s state ranking has slipped slightly from 106th to 122nd out of roughly 440 schools, but it remains in the top quartile statewide. With a student-teacher ratio of 17.4:1 and per-student spending of $8,940, the school appears to use its resources efficiently. The main area for parents to watch is 8th grade math, where targeted support could help reverse a concerning downward trend.
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