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SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TUSCALOOSA COUNTY·NCES 010339001280

Hillcrest Middle School

401 Hillcrest School Rd, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 · (205) 342-2820 · Tuscaloosa County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL542 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 9% of Alabama public middle schools
  • C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
  • FBeats 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

Enrollment
542
Middle
DISTRICT 518 · STATE 508
Student : Teacher
19.4:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.1:1 · STATE 17.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
59%
318 students
DISTRICT 53% · 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

GradeStudentsShare
Grade 618334%
Grade 717933%
Grade 818033%
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · STATE 63% · US 70%
White
8015%
DISTRICT 51% · STATE 50% · US 43%
Hispanic
244%
DISTRICT 14% · STATE 12% · US 30%
Black
42478%
DISTRICT 32% · STATE 31% · US 15%
Asian
41%
DISTRICT 1% · STATE 1% · US 6%
Two+
102%
DISTRICT 2% · STATE 4% · US 5%
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
Male
25848%
Female
28452%

Discussions

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Test scores

ACAP 2024-25 . % Proficient
English Language Arts
39.9%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
11.1%
AL avg 31.8%

What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 · methodology
Tier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
24.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
41.3%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.9pp
below demographic expectation

What this means: About 24% 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 Hillcrest Middle School

Hillcrest Middle School's state test result (24.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.

SchoolStudentsLow-incomeProficient
Hillcrest Middle School this school54258.7%24.5%
South Girard School
Phenix City
50160.5%34.3%
Williams Middle School
Huntsville
65949.9%32.5%
Demopolis Middle School
Demopolis
39459.4%46.5%
Dunbar Creative Performing Arts
Mobile
33869.8%49.6%
Eastwood Middle School
Cottondale
71171.4%20.7%
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 Hillcrest Middle School ranks

Among middle schools
MeasureThis schoolIn AlabamaIn Tuscaloosa County
State test proficiency
ranked highest first
24.5%#203 of 260#10 of 13
Math proficiency
ranked highest first
11.1%#200 of 260#10 of 13
Reading proficiency
ranked highest first
39.9%#202 of 260#10 of 13
Enrollment
ranked largest first
542#97 of 265#7 of 13
Students per teacher
ranked fewest first
19.4:1#180 of 244#8 of 12
Diversity index
ranked most diverse first
36.4%#166 of 246#9 of 12
Free and reduced lunch
ranked highest share first
58.7%#132 of 264#5 of 13
Enrollment change since 2017-18
ranked fastest growth first
+0.4%#78 of 79#8 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 2024-25
Enrollment
542
-56 (-9%) vs 2020
-52% since 1990-91, when it was 1,123
Student : Teacher
19.4:1
was 20.6:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Enrollment and staffing by year

School yearStudentsTeachers (FTE)Students per teacherFree and reduced lunch
2024-255422819.4:159% (318)
2023-245452918.8:174% (402)
2022-235763118.6:175% (432)
2020-215982920.6:159% (354)
2017-185402819.3:156% (305)
2015-165903119.0:146% (270)
2010-117875015.7:140% (315)
2000-019115018.2:136% (329)
1990-911,1236218.1:1N/A
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hillcrest Middle School.

Since 2017-18: students unchanged (540 to 542); teachers unchanged (28 to 28).

About Hillcrest Middle School

Hillcrest Middle School is a mid-sized middle-grades school that serves part of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Federal data show 542 students enrolled in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25.

Hillcrest Middle School is one school in Tuscaloosa County, a system of 35 schools with 19,278 students.

Of every 100 students at Hillcrest Middle School, about 78 are Black. After that, the student body is 15% White and 4% Hispanic. Among all residents of Tuscaloosa County, the Black share is about 31%. The diversity index for Hillcrest Middle School is 36%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.

Teacher count: 28 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 19.4:1. Compared with the 17.9:1 average for middle schools in Alabama, this school's ratio is higher. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 59%.

Among Alabama public middle schools, Hillcrest Middle School outscored 9%, which works out to a D on the allk12 Grade.

On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Hillcrest Middle School is 16.9 points below the average proficiency rate across its state test results predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 24.5% actual, 41.3% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in Alabama.

Census data for Tuscaloosa County show median household income comes to about $66,231, about 32% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 11% of residents are in poverty. There are 58 public schools in the county, enrolling about 30,508, Hillcrest Middle School among them.

Hillcrest High School is about 0.2 miles from Hillcrest Middle School, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Hillcrest Middle School ranks 7th in a group of 8 nearby schools.

Locale: Suburb: Mid-size. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.

The school's enrollment decreased 9% from 2020-21 to 2024-25. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio dropped to 19.4:1, from 20.6:1.

Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Hillcrest Middle School. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.

Tuscaloosa County at a glance

View full county profile
Population
237,552
Census ACS
Median income
$66,231
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
58
30,508 students

Quick facts

School name
Hillcrest Middle School
District
Tuscaloosa County
Address
401 Hillcrest School Rd, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
Phone
(205) 342-2820
County
Tuscaloosa County
Level
Middle
Grade range
06–08
Total enrollment
542
Teachers (FTE)
28
Student–teacher ratio
19.4:1
Free and reduced lunch
318 (59%)
Locale
22-Suburb: Mid-size
NCES ID
010339001280
Charter school
No
Virtual school
No

Related schools

Other schools in Tuscaloosa County
Other schools in Tuscaloosa
Other Hillcrest Middle schools

5 other US public schools in 5 states are named Hillcrest Middle. Hillcrest Middle School is the 4th largest of the 6.

Nearby schools

Frequently asked questions

About Hillcrest Middle School
What is the total enrollment at Hillcrest Middle School?
Hillcrest Middle School enrolls approximately 542 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Hillcrest Middle School serve?
Hillcrest Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Hillcrest Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Hillcrest Middle School is approximately 19.4:1 (28 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Hillcrest Middle School?
At Hillcrest Middle School, the student body is approximately 15% White, 4% Hispanic, 78% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is Hillcrest Middle School in?
Hillcrest Middle School is part of Tuscaloosa County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.
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