Eastwood Middle School

Eastwood Middle School is a middle school of medium-sized scale in Cottondale, Alabama, operated by Tuscaloosa City, educateing 711 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 40% above the typical public school in Alabama, which averages around 508 students.

Tuscaloosa City comprises 19 schools with combined enrollment of 11,230 students; Eastwood Middle School is among them.

On demographics, Eastwood Middle School reports that nearly all students (83%) are Black; the rest reads as 8% Hispanic, 5% White. By comparison, Tuscaloosa County as a whole is about 31% Black, so the school skews noticeably more Black than its surroundings.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 19.0:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.9:1 average. Around 71% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is above Tuscaloosa County's rate of about 54%.

With demographic context factored in, Eastwood Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 32.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 20.7%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Tuscaloosa County indicate median household earnings sit near $66,231, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Tuscaloosa County runs 58 public schools (combined enrollment of about 30,508 students), of which Eastwood Middle School is one.

Paul W Bryant High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Eastwood Middle School. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Eastwood Middle School ranks 9th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 38.0%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 12%: 807 students in 2018 compared to 711 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 87% to 83%. Class-load math has rose: from 15.4:1 in 2018 to 19.0:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the feed for Eastwood Middle School typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.