Goodwyn Middle School, Montgomery AL

Original Research by School Decision on Goodwyn Middle School

Goodwyn Middle School serves students in sixth through eighth grade and sits within Montgomery County Schools in Alabama’s capital city. Montgomery combines state government, Maxwell Air Force Base, and manufacturing such as Hyundai, with a downtown that has seen revitalization along the Alabama River. The broader city is walkable only in concentrated areas and remains mostly car-dependent, with civic life anchored by the State Capitol, cultural institutions, and university campuses.

The school’s enrollment is large for a middle school. The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and a modest number of White students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with high economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available.

State assessment results come from the 2024-25 school year, the only year with reported data, so no trend is established. In English language arts, proficiency rates are modest and decline across grades: the sixth-grade rate is higher than the seventh, and the eighth-grade rate is the lowest. In mathematics, proficiency is much lower, with a steep drop from sixth to seventh grade before a further decline in eighth grade. Eighth-grade science proficiency is also low. When compared with other districts in Montgomery County, Goodwyn falls in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. These are the school’s most difficult academic figures, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the instructional context.

Because Goodwyn is a middle school that does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism was also not reported. The school is a regular public school that is not a charter and has no magnet designation listed.

The Montgomery County district brief did not yield any recent district-level changes to report, so it is not possible to say whether the school or district is in the midst of any shift in programming or leadership. The school’s course access and staffing data were also not available.

For a family considering Goodwyn Middle School, the essential picture is clear. The school serves a large, economically diverse student body in a city with a stable mix of government, military, and industrial employment. Housing in the area is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, and rents have seen modest increases. The academic data points to an environment where many students are not yet meeting state proficiency benchmarks, particularly in math. The school is part of a district that has not recently communicated major changes. The student composition and the academic results are the main facts a parent would want to explore further by visiting, talking with staff, and understanding what supports are in place for the students it serves.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 67%

School 7% · District 15% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 73%

School 3% · District 9% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 81%

School 1% · District 10% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 34% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 722%

School 22% · District 36% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 35% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Science

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 23% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolMontgomery 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 8Lower-income13%Higher-income35%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income7%Higher-income7%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income2%Higher-income0%1 pp gap