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Which teacher or staff member at Discovery Middle School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,054
Middle
DISTRICT 1,020 · STATE 508
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MADISON CITY·NCES 010000800495
Discovery Middle School
1304 Hughes Rd, Madison, AL 35758 · (256) 837-3735 · Madison County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,054 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 73% of Alabama public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.6:1
68 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.8:1 · STATE 17.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
26%
278 students
DISTRICT 26% · STATE 58%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 357 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 365 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 332 | 31% |
Student demographics
61%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
75.6%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
55.7%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 76 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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
63.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.8%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 64% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 65% 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 Discovery Middle School
Discovery Middle School's state test result (63.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Middle School this school | 1,054 | 26.4% | 63.6% |
| Berry Middle School Hoover | 1,058 | 30.1% | 71.4% |
| Oak Mountain Middle School Birmingham | 1,168 | 25.5% | 64.9% |
| Pike Road Intermediate School Pike Road | 652 | 25.2% | 63.5% |
| Journey Middle School Madison | 903 | 26.7% | 59.5% |
| Robert F Bumpus Middle School Hoover | 1,192 | 22.6% | 71.5% |
Matched among Alabama middle 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 Discovery Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Madison County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 63.6% | #35 of 260 | #4 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 55.7% | #22 of 260 | #3 of 19 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.6% | #41 of 260 | #5 of 19 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,054 | #13 of 265 | #3 of 19 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.6:1 | #43 of 244 | #3 of 18 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.8% | #56 of 246 | #12 of 18 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 26.4% | #252 of 264 | #17 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +24.4% | #20 of 79 | #3 of 8 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
1,054
-258 (-20%) vs 2020
+18% since 2000-01, when it was 891
Student : Teacher
15.6:1
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 | 1,054 | 67.5 | 15.6:1 | 26% (278) |
| 2023-24 | 1,069 | 66.5 | 16.1:1 | 27% (288) |
| 2022-23 | 1,334 | 80 | 16.7:1 | 25% (338) |
| 2020-21 | 1,312 | 76 | 17.3:1 | 10% (135) |
| 2017-18 | 847 | 44 | 19.3:1 | 20% (167) |
| 2015-16 | 753 | 39 | 19.3:1 | 21% (159) |
| 2010-11 | 941 | 59 | 15.9:1 | 20% (190) |
| 2000-01 | 891 | 55 | 16.2:1 | 7% (63) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Discovery Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 24% (847 to 1,054); teachers up 53% (44 to 67.5).
About Discovery Middle School
Discovery Middle School is a large middle school based in Madison, Alabama. The school serves 1,054 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25. For comparison, middle schools in Alabama average about 508 students.
Madison City has 13,046 students in 13 schools, and Discovery Middle School is one of those schools.
A majority of students at Discovery Middle School, 59%, are White. The rest of enrollment is 17% Black, 9% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 7% Asian. The chance that two students picked at random at Discovery Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 61%.
Teachers at the school number 67.5 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 15.6:1. Among middle schools in Alabama, the typical ratio is 17.9:1. The school's lunch program data list 26% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Among public schools in Madison County, the average eligibility rate is 41%.
Discovery Middle School is graded B+ by allk12, scoring above 73% of Alabama public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Compared with Alabama schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Discovery Middle School's results are 1.1 points below predicted: 63.6% against 64.8%.
Madison County census figures show that median household income is about $86,499, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. A total of 89 public schools operate in Madison County, serving about 55,800 students.
The nearest public school is Rainbow Elementary School, at about 0.9 miles. Discovery Middle School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. The school's 63.6% average proficiency ranks 6th among 8 nearby schools.
Locale data from NCES put Discovery Middle School in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more (Suburb: Large).
The number of students dropped from 1,312 to 1,054 over 4 years. By 2024-25, the school had 15.6 students per teacher, compared with 17.3 in 2020-21.
Questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Madison County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
405,718
Census ACS
Median income
$86,499
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
89
55,800 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Madison City
- James Clemens High SchoolHigh · 2,159 students
- Bob Jones High SchoolHigh · 2,048 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,103 students
- MidTown Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,097 students
- Mill Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 965 students
- Journey Middle SchoolMiddle · 903 students
Other schools in Madison
- James Clemens High SchoolHigh · 2,159 students
- Bob Jones High SchoolHigh · 2,048 students
- Liberty Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,103 students
- MidTown Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,097 students
- Mill Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 965 students
- Journey Middle SchoolMiddle · 903 students
Other Discovery Middle schools
7 other US public schools in 8 states are named Discovery Middle. Discovery Middle School is the largest of the 8.
- DISCOVERY MIDDLE SCHOOLFargo, ND · 992 students
- Discovery Middle SchoolGranger, IN · 941 students
- Discovery Middle SchoolALEXANDRIA, MN · 898 students
- DISCOVERY MIDDLEORLANDO, FL · 814 students
- Discovery Middle SchoolCANTON, MI · 731 students
Nearby schools
- Rainbow Elementary School0.9 mi · 725
- Columbia Elementary School1.4 mi · 701
- Madison City School PreK Center1.4 mi · 252
- Bob Jones High School1.5 mi · 2,048
- Liberty Middle School2.1 mi · 1,103
- MidTown Elementary School2.2 mi · 1,097
Frequently asked questions
About Discovery Middle SchoolHow many students attend Discovery Middle School?
Discovery Middle School enrolls approximately 1,054 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Discovery Middle School serve?
Discovery Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Discovery Middle School have?
Discovery Middle School employs 68 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.6:1.
What is the student diversity at Discovery Middle School?
Student demographics at Discovery Middle School are roughly 59% White, 9% Hispanic, 17% Black, 7% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Discovery Middle School public or private?
Discovery Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Madison City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.