Summary:
Zip code 36605 in Mobile, Alabama, is served by a single middle school, Pillans Middle School, which enrolls 440 students in grades 6-8 within the Mobile County school district.
Pillans Middle School faces significant academic challenges, ranking in the bottom 10% of Alabama middle schools. The most pressing concern is mathematics, where proficiency rates are critically low: only 11.72% of 6th graders, 0.86% of 7th graders, and 2.21% of 8th graders meet grade-level standards, compared to state averages of 35.22%, 24.46%, and 26.36% respectively. English proficiency is notably stronger, with 30.23% of 6th graders, 24.79% of 7th graders, and 35.29% of 8th graders proficient—still below state averages but showing a clear relative strength. The school also demonstrates a positive trajectory in English, with 8th grade proficiency improving by 12.92 percentage points year-over-year, and 8th grade science proficiency jumped dramatically from 9.33% to 35.07%.
Chronic absenteeism is a critical barrier, affecting 26.5% of students—more than double the district (12.8%) and state (12.0%) rates. The school serves a high-poverty population, with 89.77% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch. The student-teacher ratio is 17.6:1, and per-student spending is $10,414. Performance rankings have been volatile, fluctuating from the 10th percentile in 2023-2024, dropping to the 3rd percentile in 2024-2025, then recovering to the 10th percentile in 2025-2026. While the school shows promising improvements in English and science, the severe math proficiency gaps and high absenteeism rates indicate that comprehensive interventions addressing both academic and non-academic barriers are essential for meaningful progress.
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