Enrollment
379
High
DISTRICT 472 · STATE 682
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HOUSTON COUNTY·NCES 010177000612
Cottonwood High School
663 Houston St, Cottonwood, AL 36320 · (334) 691-2587 · Houston County
GRADES 07–12HIGH42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL379 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% of Alabama public high schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Alabama public high schools
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.4:1 · STATE 17.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
60%
226 students
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 58%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 76 | 20% |
| Grade 8 | 66 | 17% |
| Grade 9 | 75 | 20% |
| Grade 10 | 53 | 14% |
| Grade 11 | 59 | 16% |
| Grade 12 | 50 | 13% |
Student demographics
40%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 47% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
48.5%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
23.4%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 23 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Alabama schools, those numbers are about 53 and 32.
Source: ACAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
34.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.6%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 34% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 41% typical for Alabama schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Alabama's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Cottonwood High School
Cottonwood High School's state test result (34.0% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood High School this school | 379 | 59.6% | 34.0% |
| Piedmont High School Piedmont | 315 | 56.5% | 48.3% |
| East Lawrence High School Trinity | 408 | 63.0% | 13.3% |
| Gaston High School Gadsden | 380 | 63.9% | 24.1% |
| Central High School of Clay County Lineville | 533 | 58.5% | 17.1% |
| Etowah High School Attalla | 453 | 62.7% | 22.5% |
Matched among Alabama high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Cottonwood High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Houston County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.0% | #101 of 305 | #3 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.4% | #117 of 305 | #3 of 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 48.5% | #59 of 305 | #2 of 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 379 | #234 of 319 | #6 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #127 of 307 | #3 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.4% | #171 of 307 | #6 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 59.6% | #129 of 317 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -49.6% | #8 of 164 | N/A |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
379
-381 (-50%) vs 2020
-57% since 1990-91, when it was 888
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 17.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 379 | 22.6 | 16.8:1 | 60% (226) |
| 2023-24 | 396 | 22.6 | 17.5:1 | 68% (270) |
| 2022-23 | 398 | 22.6 | 17.6:1 | 69% (273) |
| 2020-21 | 760 | 44 | 17.3:1 | 69% (526) |
| 2017-18 | 752 | 43 | 17.5:1 | 71% (531) |
| 2015-16 | 756 | 41 | 18.4:1 | 70% (527) |
| 2010-11 | 738 | 47 | 15.7:1 | 70% (520) |
| 2000-01 | 793 | 56 | 14.2:1 | 56% (443) |
| 1990-91 | 888 | 46 | 19.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cottonwood High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 50% (752 to 379); teachers down 47% (43 to 22.6).
About Cottonwood High School
Cottonwood High School operates as a small high school in Cottonwood, Alabama. The school counts 379 students across grades 7 through 12. The school's enrollment is 44% smaller than the 682 average for high schools in Alabama.
Houston County oversees Cottonwood High School and 13 other schools, with 6,907 students in total.
Cottonwood High School's enrollment is 75% White. Other groups include 15% Black, 6% Hispanic, and 2% multiracial. By comparison, Houston County residents are about 65% White. The chance that two students picked at random at Cottonwood High School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 40%.
The school has about 16.8 students per teacher and 22.6 full-time-equivalent teachers. High schools in Alabama have a similar average ratio of 17.2:1. About 60% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch.
The allk12 Grade for Cottonwood High School is A-. Compared with Alabama public high schools, the school scored higher than 82% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
A school with Cottonwood High School's lunch-eligibility share in Alabama is predicted to score 40.6%. Cottonwood High School scores 34.0%, 6.7 points below that line.
Cottonwood High School is located in Houston County, where median household income is about $58,626, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 23%, and about 13% of people live in poverty. Cottonwood High School is one of 35 public schools in Houston County, which together enroll about 15,127 students.
The shortest distance from Cottonwood High School to another public school is less than a tenth of a mile, to Cottonwood Elementary School. A ten-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Cottonwood High School is 6th on average proficiency.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Rural: Distant.
Reported enrollment: 760 (2020-21) and 379 (2024-25). These figures may describe different sets of grades.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Houston County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
108,140
Census ACS
Median income
$58,626
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
35
15,127 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Houston County
- Rehobeth High SchoolHigh · 786 students
- Rehobeth Primary SchoolElementary · 761 students
- Ashford Elementary SchoolElementary · 668 students
- Wicksburg Elementary SchoolElementary · 636 students
- Rehobeth Elementary SchoolMiddle · 590 students
- Cottonwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 502 students
Other Cottonwood High schools
One other US public school is named Cottonwood High. Cottonwood High School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Cottonwood HighSALT LAKE CITY, UT · 1,451 students
Nearby schools
- Cottonwood Elementary School0.0 mi · 502
- Ashford Elementary School9.3 mi · 668
- Ashford High School9.7 mi · 413
- Ashford Middle School9.8 mi · 316
- Rehobeth Primary School9.8 mi · 761
- Rehobeth Elementary School9.8 mi · 590
Frequently asked questions
About Cottonwood High SchoolHow large is Cottonwood High School?
Cottonwood High School enrolls approximately 379 students in grades 07-12.
What grades does Cottonwood High School serve?
Cottonwood High School serves grades 07-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cottonwood High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Cottonwood High School is approximately 16.8:1 (23 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cottonwood High School?
At Cottonwood High School, the student body is approximately 75% White, 6% Hispanic, 15% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Cottonwood High School public or private?
Cottonwood High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Houston County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.