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What advice would you give to incoming students at Fort Payne Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
741
Middle
DISTRICT 702 · STATE 508
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FORT PAYNE CITY·NCES 010156001750
Fort Payne Middle School
4910 Martin Ave NE, Fort Payne, AL 35967 · (256) 845-7501 · DeKalb County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL741 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 77% of Alabama public middle 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
47 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.2:1 · STATE 17.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
63%
469 students
DISTRICT 64% · 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 | 245 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 250 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 246 | 33% |
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Fort Payne Middle School→Fort Payne High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Fort Payne City. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
63.9%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
33.6%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 64 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 34 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
48.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.0%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% 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 Fort Payne Middle School
Fort Payne Middle School's state test result (48.6% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Payne Middle School this school | 741 | 63.3% | 48.6% |
| Foley Middle School Foley | 823 | 62.8% | 37.8% |
| Douglas Middle School Douglas | 512 | 67.2% | 35.0% |
| Boaz Middle School Boaz | 583 | 70.2% | 42.3% |
| Decatur Middle School Decatur | 818 | 63.6% | 35.0% |
| Jemison Intermediate School Jemison | 468 | 67.3% | 34.6% |
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 Fort Payne Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.6% | #91 of 260 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 33.6% | #84 of 260 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 63.9% | #93 of 260 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 741 | #48 of 265 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.8:1 | #46 of 244 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 57.6% | #74 of 246 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 63.3% | #103 of 264 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -29.9% | #25 of 151 |
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
741
-360 (-33%) vs 2020
+5% since 1990-91, when it was 708
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
was 19.3:1
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 | 741 | 47 | 15.8:1 | 63% (469) |
| 2023-24 | 756 | 48.3 | 15.7:1 | 73% (555) |
| 2022-23 | 787 | 49.9 | 15.8:1 | 74% (579) |
| 2020-21 | 1,101 | 57 | 19.3:1 | 68% (746) |
| 2017-18 | 1,057 | 53.4 | 19.8:1 | 66% (700) |
| 2015-16 | 936 | 49 | 19.1:1 | 65% (608) |
| 2010-11 | 895 | 51 | 17.6:1 | 62% (559) |
| 2000-01 | 599 | 31 | 19.3:1 | 42% (249) |
| 1990-91 | 708 | 29 | 24.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fort Payne Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 30% (1,057 to 741); teachers down 12% (53.4 to 47).
About Fort Payne Middle School
Fort Payne Middle School is a mid-sized middle-grades school based in Fort Payne, Alabama. In all, 741 students attend the school in grades 6 through 8. The school is 46% larger than the average for middle schools in Alabama.
Federal data list 5 schools in Fort Payne City, with 3,508 students enrolled.
White students account for 48% of enrollment at Fort Payne Middle School, more than any other group. The remaining students are 44% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, and 2% Black. Among people living in DeKalb County, the White share is about 80%. The diversity index for Fort Payne Middle School is 58%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
The school had 47 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 15.8:1. Across middle schools in Alabama, the average ratio is 17.9:1. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 63%. That is in line with the 65% average for public schools in DeKalb County.
Fort Payne Middle School earns an A- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 77% of Alabama public middle schools.
The model predicts 38.0% for a school in Alabama with Fort Payne Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch share. Fort Payne Middle School posts 48.6%.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for DeKalb County show that the median household earns about $51,204 a year, about 14% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 16% of residents are in poverty. DeKalb County has 20 public schools with about 12,277 students, including Fort Payne Middle School.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Fort Payne High School, is about 0.4 miles. Around the school, 4 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Fort Payne Middle School ranks 3rd in a group of 7 nearby schools.
The NCES locale for Fort Payne Middle School is Town: Distant, which covers schools in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
Over 4 years, enrollment fell by 360 students, from 1,101 to 741. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio dropped from 19.3:1 to 15.8:1.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
DeKalb County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
72,269
Census ACS
Median income
$51,204
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
14%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
12,277 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Fort Payne City
- Fort Payne High SchoolHigh · 1,106 students
- Little Ridge Intermediate SchoolElementary · 792 students
- Wills Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 738 students
- Williams Avenue Elementary SchoolElementary · 131 students
Other schools in Fort Payne
- Fort Payne High SchoolHigh · 1,106 students
- Little Ridge Intermediate SchoolElementary · 792 students
- Wills Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 738 students
- Williams Avenue Elementary SchoolElementary · 131 students
- Alternative SchoolHigh
Nearby schools
- Fort Payne High School0.4 mi · 1,106
- Little Ridge Intermediate School0.5 mi · 792
- Wills Valley Elementary School0.9 mi · 738
- Williams Avenue Elementary School3.3 mi · 131
- Valley Head High School5.9 mi · 517
- Plainview School8.8 mi · 1,167
Frequently asked questions
About Fort Payne Middle SchoolHow large is Fort Payne Middle School?
Fort Payne Middle School enrolls approximately 741 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Fort Payne Middle School serve?
Fort Payne Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Fort Payne Middle School have?
Fort Payne Middle School employs 47 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.8:1.
How diverse is Fort Payne Middle School?
Fort Payne Middle School reports a student body of 48% White, 44% Hispanic, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Fort Payne Middle School?
Fort Payne Middle School is overseen by Fort Payne City in DeKalb County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.