North Jefferson Middle School, Kimberly AL

Original Research by School Decision on North Jefferson Middle School

North Jefferson Middle School serves grades six through eight in Kimberly, Alabama, as part of the Jefferson County school district. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and sits in a community that has transformed from a coal mining and industrial town into a primarily residential suburb within the broader Birmingham metro area. Kimberly has grown rapidly over the past two decades, transitioning from a town to a city as its population increased, and the housing stock is largely owner-occupied single-family homes. The school itself is one of three public schools within the city limits, alongside Bryan Elementary and Mortimer Jordan High School, and it feeds into a pattern that includes several surrounding communities.

The student body is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of Black students and a modest Hispanic population. Just under half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a middle ground economically within the county. The school is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight, and it is not a charter or magnet school. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source materials.

On state assessments, the school shows a clear split between English language arts and math. In ELA, a solid majority of students in each grade scored proficient, with the strongest performance in seventh grade. Science results for eighth graders were around the midpoint, with roughly half of students meeting the proficiency bar. Math results are notably weaker. In sixth grade, less than half of students were proficient, and the rate dropped further in seventh grade. By eighth grade, the share of students reaching proficiency in math was quite low. This pattern, where math proficiency trails ELA by a wide margin and declines as students move through the grades, is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school. Because only one year of assessment data was available, it is not possible to say whether this is a trend or a single-year snapshot.

The school's overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, places it above the midpoint among districts in Jefferson County. This is a useful reference point, though it is a school-level comparison within a county that includes a wide range of performance levels. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

The community context is one of steady growth. Kimberly has seen its population increase substantially over the past two decades, and the housing market reflects that demand. Home values in the area are above the state median, and the typical home is priced at a level that, with current mortgage rates, would require a monthly payment that is a meaningful share of a typical household income. Rents are lower than a mortgage payment on a median-priced home, which is common in many markets. The area is auto-dependent, with no public transit identified in available sources, and the schools themselves function as key civic gathering points in a community without a traditional downtown.

The Jefferson County district itself did not have any recent major changes surfaced in the search, so the focus for a parent considering this school is on the school's own academic profile and the community it serves. The school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among districts in Jefferson County, which gives a general sense of where it lands relative to its neighbors, though the range across the county is wide. For a family looking at this school, the key academic consideration is the gap between reading and math, particularly the steep drop in math proficiency by eighth grade. The community is growing, residential, and auto-dependent, with the school serving as a central institution in a place that lacks a traditional downtown.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 18% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 14% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 11% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 47% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 47% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 44% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Science

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 29% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

This schoolJefferson County, 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-income53%Higher-income77%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income82%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income67%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income58%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income25%Higher-income47%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income22%10 pp gap