Gadsden Middle School, Gadsden AL

Original Research by School Decision on Gadsden Middle School

Gadsden Middle School is a regular public school serving grades six through eight, part of the Gadsden City school district in the mid-sized city of Gadsden, the county seat of Etowah County. The city has a significant industrial history, connected to Goodyear Tire and Rubber and Republic Steel, and has been working through a period of economic transition after losing many manufacturing jobs. The population has been in modest decline. The downtown area includes businesses and attractions along Broad Street, and a community college and satellites of larger universities are present.

The student body is diverse. Enrollment draws from families across a substantial share of the community, with a large percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, marking a high level of economic need in the school. The racial and ethnic composition is mixed, with the largest groups being Black students, followed by white students and Hispanic students. The school is a middle school, so there is no graduation rate to report, and mathematics results across all three grades tested were lower than the state average. In the district's sixth grade, roughly two in five students met the state's math proficiency standard, but that share dropped to about one in four for seventh grade and a little higher for eighth grade. In English language arts, the picture was stronger, with slightly more than half of students proficient in grades six, seven, and eight. Eighth-grade science results were lower, with about one in three students meeting the proficiency bar.

When compared across the handful of districts in Etowah County, Gadsden Middle School's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands above the midpoint. This suggests that while math is a significant soft spot, the school's overall academic results are not at the bottom of the county.

The school shares a campus with the district's central office. The district brief found little in the way of recent parent-relevant changes to report from publicly available sources. Civil rights discipline data, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism rates were not available in the provided data, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those topics to get a fuller picture of the environment and student support. Gadsden Middle School fits a family who values a diverse student community in a city with a defined downtown and outdoor recreation on the Coosa River and at Noccalula Falls Park. The school's weaker math results and high economic need among the student body are factors a parent should weigh and explore further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 30% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 15% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 16% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 51% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 49% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 40% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 27% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income88%51 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income78%38 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income70%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income20%Higher-income70%50 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income11%Higher-income53%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income52%35 pp gap