Shoals Middle School

Shoals Middle School is a public middle school located in Shoals, Indiana, serving grades 6-8 with a total enrollment of 128 students. The school is part of the Shoals Community School Corporation, which is ranked 291 out of 380 school districts in Indiana and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Shoals Middle School faces significant challenges, including consistently high chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 17.8% to 29.9%, well above the state average. Academically, the school's performance, as measured by ILEARN test scores, is significantly below the state and district averages. In the 2024-2025 school year, only 26.23% of students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to the state average of 40.5% to 42.7%, and just 13.11% were proficient in math, compared to the state average of 34.5% to 39.7%. Additionally, Shoals Middle School has a very high percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 61.96% to 66.41%, indicating a high level of economic disadvantage among the student population.

When comparing Shoals Middle School to nearby schools, such as Jasper Middle School, Mitchell Junior High School, and Loogootee Middle School, the performance gap is quite significant. These nearby schools consistently outperform Shoals Middle School across various academic metrics, including test scores and student proficiency rates. Shoals Middle School's performance has also been declining over the past few years, with its statewide ranking dropping from 284 out of 485 Indiana middle schools in 2023-2024 to 377 out of 480 in 2024-2025, suggesting the need for more effective strategies and interventions to improve student outcomes.