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If you could change one rule at Muscle Shoals High School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
864
High
DISTRICT 497 · STATE 682
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MUSCLE SHOALS CITY·NCES 010252001062
Muscle Shoals High School
1900 E Avalon Ave, Muscle Shoals, AL 35661 · (256) 389-2682 · Colbert County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL864 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 57% of Alabama public high schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats 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
19.8:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.8:1 · STATE 17.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
34%
291 students
DISTRICT 34% · STATE 58%
Community
6
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 9 | 217 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 231 | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 192 | 22% |
| Grade 12 | 224 | 26% |
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
37.4%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
43.9%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of AL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
38.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
59.5%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-21.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 38% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 59% typical for Alabama schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Muscle Shoals High School
Muscle Shoals High School's state test result (38.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Shoals High School this school | 864 | 33.7% | 38.4% |
| East Limestone High School Athens | 1,216 | 34.0% | 42.5% |
| Southside High School Southside | 825 | 33.7% | 28.7% |
| Northridge High School Tuscaloosa | 1,153 | 33.7% | 41.2% |
| Moody High School Moody | 708 | 36.3% | 35.5% |
| Gardendale High School Gardendale | 1,076 | 38.6% | 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 Muscle Shoals High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Colbert County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 38.4% | #71 of 305 | #1 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.9% | #23 of 305 | #1 of 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 37.4% | #122 of 305 | #4 of 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 864 | #81 of 319 | #1 of 6 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.8:1 | #269 of 307 | #6 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.6% | #85 of 307 | #2 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 33.7% | #284 of 317 | #6 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.1% | #159 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
864
+5 (+1%) vs 2020
+69% since 1990-91, when it was 510
Student : Teacher
19.8:1
was 22.0:1
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 | 864 | 43.7 | 19.8:1 | 34% (291) |
| 2023-24 | 874 | 43.4 | 20.1:1 | 40% (349) |
| 2022-23 | 853 | 43.9 | 19.4:1 | 40% (338) |
| 2020-21 | 859 | 39 | 22.0:1 | 17% (149) |
| 2017-18 | 874 | 46 | 19.0:1 | 27% (233) |
| 2015-16 | 886 | 46 | 19.3:1 | 30% (265) |
| 2010-11 | 837 | 43 | 19.5:1 | 27% (222) |
| 2000-01 | 673 | 34 | 19.8:1 | 12% (82) |
| 1990-91 | 510 | 28 | 18.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Muscle Shoals High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (874 to 864); teachers down 5% (46 to 43.7).
About Muscle Shoals High School
Muscle Shoals High School is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as a high school in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It educates 864 students in grades 9 through 12. The typical figure for high schools in Alabama is about 682 students.
Muscle Shoals City has 6 schools; together they serve 2,979 students.
White students are the majority at Muscle Shoals High School, with 64% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 16% Black, 9% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, and 4% Asian. Among all residents of Colbert County, the White share is about 77%. The school's diversity index is 56%, meaning two students picked at random have a 56% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Teacher staffing is 43.7 full-time equivalents, or about 19.8 students per teacher. On average, high schools in Alabama have 17.2:1, compared with 19.8:1 here. About 34% of students, or 291, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, public schools in Colbert County report 50%.
allk12 grades Muscle Shoals High School a B. The grade compares the school only with Alabama public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
BeatsExpectations places Muscle Shoals High School in the bottom 10% of Alabama schools. The measure fits a line through proficiency and free or reduced-price lunch share for each state, and this school sits 21.1 points below it (38.4% actual, 59.5% predicted).
Across Colbert County, the median household income is $60,628, about 22% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 14% of residents are in poverty. In all, Colbert County has 25 public schools and roughly 8,178 students.
The nearest public school is Muscle Shoals Middle School, at about 0.2 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The school's 38.4% average proficiency ranks 4th among 6 nearby schools.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Small.
The student count changed little between 2020-21 (859) and 2024-25 (864). Federal data show the ratio falling from 22.0:1 to 19.8:1.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Muscle Shoals High School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Colbert County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
58,022
Census ACS
Median income
$60,628
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
25
8,178 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Muscle Shoals City
- McBride Elementary SchoolElementary · 647 students
- Muscle Shoals Middle SchoolMiddle · 642 students
- Howell Graves PreschoolElementary · 356 students
- Highland Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 236 students
- Webster Elementary SchoolElementary · 234 students
- Muscle Shoals Career AcademyHigh
Other schools in Muscle Shoals
- McBride Elementary SchoolElementary · 647 students
- Muscle Shoals Middle SchoolMiddle · 642 students
- Howell Graves PreschoolElementary · 356 students
- Highland Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 236 students
- Webster Elementary SchoolElementary · 234 students
- Muscle Shoals Career AcademyHigh
Nearby schools
- Muscle Shoals Middle School0.2 mi · 642
- McBride Elementary School0.3 mi · 647
- Howell Graves Preschool0.8 mi · 356
- Highland Park Elementary School1.0 mi · 236
- Webster Elementary School1.7 mi · 234
- Deshler Middle School2.9 mi · 336
Frequently asked questions
About Muscle Shoals High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Muscle Shoals High School?
Muscle Shoals High School enrolls approximately 864 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Muscle Shoals High School serve?
Muscle Shoals High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Muscle Shoals High School have?
Muscle Shoals High School employs 44 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 19.8:1.
How diverse is Muscle Shoals High School?
Muscle Shoals High School reports a student body of 64% White, 9% Hispanic, 16% Black, 4% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Muscle Shoals High School?
Muscle Shoals High School is overseen by Muscle Shoals City in Colbert County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.