Litchfield Middle School, Gadsden AL

Original Research by School Decision on Litchfield Middle School

Litchfield Middle School is a regular public school in Gadsden, Alabama, serving grades six through eight. It is part of the Gadsden City district. The school’s enrollment is small for a middle school, and it draws a student body that is majority Black with a substantial Hispanic population and a smaller share of white students. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a high-poverty context.

State testing results are available for the 2024-25 school year only, so there is no multi-year trend to examine. Across all three tested subjects—math, English language arts, and science—proficiency rates were low. In math, the share of students scoring proficient was in the single digits for each grade level. In English language arts, results were higher but still well below the midpoint for the state; roughly three in ten students met the proficiency bar in grade six and grade seven, with a lower rate in grade eight. In eighth-grade science, proficiency was also low. Compared with other districts in Etowah County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed in the bottom quartile. A parent may want to ask the school about specific academic interventions, tutoring, or programs aimed at raising achievement.

No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing were available. Because Litchfield is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report.

The school sits in Gadsden, a mid-sized city that is the county seat of Etowah County. Gadsden was historically a center of heavy industry—Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and Republic Steel were major employers—but the city has experienced decades of economic transition and population decline after losing many manufacturing jobs. Underemployment remains a noted problem. The city government frames itself as ready for new industrial growth, and recent redevelopment efforts include a downtown revitalization that earned a national livability award. The Coosa River runs through the city, and Lookout Mountain rises to the north, giving the area a distinctive geography. Housing values in the area are modest relative to national and state benchmarks, making the community relatively affordable.

The parent district, Gadsden City Schools, oversees the city’s public schools. A search for recent district-level changes that would be directly relevant to families turned up little concrete information, so that part of the picture is not addressed here rather than guessed at.

Litchfield Middle School thus presents a picture of a high-poverty school in a city navigating economic transition, with academic results that are well below state averages and the lowest among the districts in the county. For a family considering this school, the key factors would be the peer environment—a small, predominantly Black and Hispanic student body with very high economic need—and a need to investigate what academic supports are in place. The community itself is affordable and has some cultural and outdoor amenities, but the economic headwinds are real.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 68%

School 8% · District 30% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 75%

School 5% · District 15% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 16% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 51% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 49% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 40% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Science

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 27% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

This schoolGadsden City, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.