1
Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at South Highlands Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
382
Middle
DISTRICT 442 · STATE 508
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BULLOCK COUNTY·NCES 010048000221
South Highlands Middle School
700 Bernard Street, Union Springs, AL 36089 · (334) 651-0183 · Bullock County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL382 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 17% of Alabama public middle schools
- DTest 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
17.4:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.5:1 · STATE 17.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
334 students
DISTRICT 86% · STATE 58%
Community
1
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 | 91 | 24% |
| Grade 6 | 94 | 25% |
| Grade 7 | 101 | 26% |
| Grade 8 | 96 | 25% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
South Highlands Middle School→Bullock County High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Bullock County. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
32.1%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
6.7%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 32 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 7 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
17.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
20.5%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 17% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 20% 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 South Highlands Middle School
South Highlands Middle School's state test result (17.0% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Highlands Middle School this school | 382 | 87.4% | 17.0% |
| Wilkerson Middle School Birmingham | 424 | 88.0% | 11.8% |
| Southlawn Middle School Montgomery | 494 | 86.0% | 10.0% |
| Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School Birmingham | 330 | 87.9% | 17.6% |
| Jones Valley Middle School Birmingham | 465 | 85.8% | 11.6% |
| Bellingrath Middle School Montgomery | 583 | 87.5% | 8.0% |
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 South Highlands Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 17.0% | #232 of 260 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 6.7% | #225 of 260 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 32.1% | #224 of 260 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 382 | #170 of 265 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.4:1 | #92 of 244 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 34.6% | #177 of 246 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.4% | #21 of 264 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.4% | #93 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
382
-100 (-21%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 513
Student : Teacher
17.4:1
was 21.9:1
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 | 382 | 22 | 17.4:1 | 87% (334) |
| 2023-24 | 383 | 24 | 16.0:1 | 81% (311) |
| 2022-23 | 424 | 21 | 20.2:1 | 81% (345) |
| 2020-21 | 482 | 22 | 21.9:1 | 81% (392) |
| 2017-18 | 417 | 21 | 19.9:1 | 81% (339) |
| 2015-16 | 408 | 19 | 21.5:1 | 69% (283) |
| 2010-11 | 440 | 26 | 16.9:1 | 73% (319) |
| 2000-01 | 527 | 26 | 20.3:1 | 91% (480) |
| 1990-91 | 513 | 20 | 25.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Highlands Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 8% (417 to 382); teachers up 5% (21 to 22).
About South Highlands Middle School
South Highlands Middle School sits in Union Springs, Alabama, and is classified as a middle-grades school. Federal data show 382 students enrolled in grades 5 through 8 in 2024-25. On average, middle schools in Alabama enroll around 508, and this school is 25% below that mark.
Bullock County is made up of 3 schools with 1,327 students in all.
Of every 100 students at South Highlands Middle School, about 78 are Black. The rest of enrollment is 21% Hispanic. Among all residents of Bullock County, the Black share is about 70%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 35%.
Staffing at South Highlands Middle School comes to 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 17.4:1. It is about the same as the 17.9:1 average for middle schools in Alabama. On the income side, 87% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 85% average for public schools in Bullock County.
South Highlands Middle School earns a C- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 17% of Alabama public middle schools.
South Highlands Middle School's actual average proficiency rate across its state test results (17.0%) and its predicted rate (20.5%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Alabama schools.
Census data for Bullock County show the median household earns about $31,310 a year, 8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 25% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Bullock County number 4, with about 1,327 students.
The closest school to South Highlands Middle School is Bullock County High School, located about 0.3 miles away. In all, 2 other public schools sit within five miles of South Highlands Middle School. In a group of 8 nearby schools with scores, South Highlands Middle School ranks 6th on average proficiency.
Federal records code the school's setting as Rural: Distant.
The school's student count fell 21% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio dropped from 21.9:1 to 17.4:1.
On allk12, people connected to South Highlands Middle School can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Bullock County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
10,058
Census ACS
Median income
$31,310
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
8%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
25%
Below federal line
Schools in county
4
1,327 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bullock County
- Union Springs Elementary SchoolElementary · 497 students
- Bullock County High SchoolHigh · 448 students
- Bullock County Career Technical CenterHigh
Other schools in Union Springs
- Union Springs Elementary SchoolElementary · 497 students
- Bullock County High SchoolHigh · 448 students
- Bullock County Career Technical CenterHigh
Nearby schools
- Bullock County High School0.3 mi · 448
- Union Springs Elementary School0.9 mi · 497
- Booker T Washington High18.5 mi · 656
- George Washington Carver Elementary School19.2 mi · 406
- Tuskegee Public Elementary20.0 mi · 261
- Tuskegee Institute Middle School20.7 mi · 215
Frequently asked questions
About South Highlands Middle SchoolHow large is South Highlands Middle School?
South Highlands Middle School enrolls approximately 382 students in grades 05-08.
What age range does South Highlands Middle School serve?
South Highlands Middle School serves students from grade 05 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at South Highlands Middle School?
Approximately 17.4:1 students per teacher at South Highlands Middle School.
How diverse is South Highlands Middle School?
South Highlands Middle School reports a student body of 1% White, 21% Hispanic, 78% Black.
Who oversees South Highlands Middle School?
South Highlands Middle School is overseen by Bullock County in Bullock County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.