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What do students at Sipsey Valley Middle School actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
575
Middle
DISTRICT 518 · STATE 508
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TUSCALOOSA COUNTY·NCES 010339002154
Sipsey Valley Middle School
15817 Romulus Rd, Buhl, AL 35446 · (205) 342-2870 · Tuscaloosa County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL575 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 41% of Alabama public middle schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-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
20.4:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.1:1 · STATE 17.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
46%
267 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
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 169 | 29% |
| Grade 6 | 126 | 22% |
| Grade 7 | 146 | 25% |
| Grade 8 | 134 | 23% |
Student demographics
49%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · 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
57.8%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
26.2%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 26 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
42.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.2%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 Sipsey Valley Middle School
Sipsey Valley Middle School's state test result (42.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sipsey Valley Middle School this school | 575 | 46.4% | 42.9% |
| Moody Middle School Moody | 573 | 46.8% | 52.3% |
| Brookwood Middle School Vance | 738 | 48.8% | 27.3% |
| Northport Intermediate School Northport | 500 | 44.0% | 56.5% |
| Maddox Intermediate School Jasper | 643 | 50.4% | 58.7% |
| Rehobeth Elementary School Rehobeth | 590 | 53.2% | 67.4% |
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 Sipsey Valley Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Tuscaloosa County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.9% | #117 of 260 | #4 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.2% | #124 of 260 | #5 of 13 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.8% | #119 of 260 | #5 of 13 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 575 | #88 of 265 | #5 of 13 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.4:1 | #213 of 244 | #11 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 48.7% | #127 of 246 | #7 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 46.4% | #196 of 264 | #9 of 13 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +55.0% | #6 of 79 | #1 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
575
+53 (+10%) vs 2020
+39% since 2010-11, when it was 413
Student : Teacher
20.4:1
was 20.1:1
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 | 575 | 28.3 | 20.4:1 | 46% (267) |
| 2023-24 | 544 | 27.9 | 19.5:1 | 63% (341) |
| 2022-23 | 556 | 26.8 | 20.8:1 | 65% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 522 | 26 | 20.1:1 | 56% (290) |
| 2017-18 | 371 | 18.2 | 20.4:1 | 50% (185) |
| 2015-16 | 376 | 17 | 22.1:1 | 48% (181) |
| 2010-11 | 413 | 27 | 15.3:1 | 54% (222) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sipsey Valley Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 55% (371 to 575); teachers up 55% (18.2 to 28.3).
About Sipsey Valley Middle School
Students in Buhl, Alabama, attend Sipsey Valley Middle School, a medium-sized middle school. Students in grades 5 through 8 attend the school, which enrolls 575 students.
Sipsey Valley Middle School is one school in a 35-school district, Tuscaloosa County, which enrolls 19,278 students.
White students are the majority at Sipsey Valley Middle School, with 68% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 18% Black and 12% Hispanic. Among all residents of Tuscaloosa County, the White share is about 60%. Pick two students at random and there is a 49% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The ratio of students to teachers is 20.4:1, with 28.3 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. The school has more students per teacher than the 17.9:1 average for middle schools in Alabama. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Sipsey Valley Middle School is 46%.
Sipsey Valley Middle School is graded C+ by allk12, scoring above 41% of Alabama public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Sipsey Valley Middle School is 7.3 points below its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (42.9% versus 50.2%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Alabama.
Census Bureau estimates for Tuscaloosa County show that the median household income is $66,231, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 32% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. There are 58 public schools in Tuscaloosa County, enrolling about 30,508 students in all.
Nearby, Sipsey Valley High School is about 0.2 miles away. Within five miles of Sipsey Valley Middle School, there are 3 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Sipsey Valley Middle School ranks 4th of 9 on average proficiency.
The NCES locale for Sipsey Valley Middle School is Rural: Distant, which covers schools in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
Enrollment grew 10% from its 2020-21 level of 522.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Sipsey Valley Middle School covering things like sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Tuscaloosa County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
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
Related schools
Other schools in Tuscaloosa County
- Tuscaloosa County High SchoolHigh · 1,607 students
- Hillcrest High SchoolHigh · 1,434 students
- Brookwood High SchoolHigh · 1,076 students
- Lake View Elementary SchoolElementary · 744 students
- Walker Elementary SchoolElementary · 743 students
- Brookwood Middle SchoolMiddle · 738 students
Other schools in Buhl
- Sipsey Valley High SchoolHigh · 524 students
- Buhl Elementary SchoolElementary · 206 students
Nearby schools
- Sipsey Valley High School0.2 mi · 524
- Buhl Elementary School4.5 mi · 206
- Westwood Elementary School4.6 mi · 299
- Myrtlewood Elementary School7.2 mi · 280
- Flatwoods Elementary School7.2 mi · 459
- Oakdale Elementary School7.5 mi · 292
Frequently asked questions
About Sipsey Valley Middle SchoolHow large is Sipsey Valley Middle School?
Sipsey Valley Middle School enrolls approximately 575 students in grades 05-08.
What age range does Sipsey Valley Middle School serve?
Sipsey Valley Middle School serves students from grade 05 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Sipsey Valley Middle School have?
Sipsey Valley Middle School employs 28 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.4:1.
How diverse is Sipsey Valley Middle School?
Sipsey Valley Middle School reports a student body of 68% White, 12% Hispanic, 18% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is Sipsey Valley Middle School in?
Sipsey Valley Middle School is part of Tuscaloosa County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.