Summary:
Zip code 36108 in Montgomery, Alabama, is home to two high schools—Carver Senior High School and McIntyre Comprehensive Academy—both part of the Montgomery County district, serving grades 9-12 and 6-12 respectively, in an area where over 82% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Carver is the larger, traditional high school with 1,553 students, and it outperforms McIntyre across every academic subject. For example, 11th-grade math proficiency at Carver is 7.43% versus 0% at McIntyre, and science proficiency is 11.15% versus 5%. Carver also has a much stronger graduation rate at 82.7%, compared to McIntyre's 48.6%. However, Carver faces a serious attendance crisis—49.2% of its students are chronically absent, more than double McIntyre's rate of 21.5%. McIntyre, a small alternative academy with just 212 students, spends an extraordinary $38,362 per student (over three times Carver's $11,100) yet ranks 379th out of 380 Alabama high schools, with 0% proficiency in math and English. Carver's ranking has also slipped from 283rd in 2023-2024 to 351st in 2025-2026, a concerning downward trend.
Both schools struggle profoundly with English language arts—Carver's 11th-grade proficiency is just 4.74%, and McIntyre's is 0%, compared to the state average of 33.73%. McIntyre's data shows a decline as students advance: 6th-grade English proficiency was 18.18%, but by 11th grade it drops to zero. While McIntyre benefits from smaller classes (11.1:1 student-teacher ratio) and lower absenteeism, these advantages haven't translated into academic success. For parents, the key takeaway is that neither school is meeting state benchmarks, but Carver offers a more traditional path with better outcomes, while McIntyre's intensive spending and alternative structure have yet to yield results. The district's 1-star rating and 19th-percentile state ranking underscore the systemic challenges these schools face.
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