Serving 2,163 students in grades 10-12, Auburn High School ranks in the top 20% of all schools in Alabama for overall test scores (math proficiency is top 10%, and reading proficiency is top 10%).
The percentage of students achieving proficiency in math is 52% (which is higher than the Alabama state average of 29%). The percentage of students achieving proficiency in reading/language arts is 53% (which is higher than the Alabama state average of 47%).
The student:teacher ratio of 17:1 is equal to the Alabama state level of 17:1.
Minority enrollment is 42% of the student body (majority Black), which is lower than the Alabama state average of 49% (majority Black).
Quick Stats (2025)
Grades: 10-12
Enrollment: 2,163 students
Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1
Minority Enrollment: 42%
Graduation Rate
: 95% (Top 20% in AL)
Overall Testing Rank
: Top 20%
Math Proficiency
: 52% (Top 10%)
Reading Proficiency
: 53% (Top 50%)
Science Proficiency
: 56% (Top 20%)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), AL Dept. of Education
Auburn High School ranks within the top 20% of all 1,285 schools in Alabama (based off of combined math and reading proficiency testing data).
The diversity score of Auburn High School is 0.60, which is less than the diversity score at state average of 0.63. The school's diversity has stayed relatively flat over five school years.
Auburn High School is a public high school in Auburn, Alabama,
enrolling students in grades 10-12. It is the only high school in
the Auburn City School District. Auburn High offers technical,
academic, and International Baccalaureate programs, as well as
joint enrollment with Southern Union State Community College and
Auburn University. Founded in 1837 in a log church on the Alabama
frontier, Auburn High has grown into an elite center of secondary
learning recognized as one of the top public high schools in the
United States.
Academics: Auburn High School is a comprehensive secondary
school along the classic American model. As such, Auburn High
offers a diverse curriculum including traditional high school
academic subjects, advanced academic classes, music and art, and
programs in business and marketing, agriscience, industrial systems
technology, and engineering. All students at Auburn High take a
basic academic core including English, Social Studies, Science, and
Math courses. A broad selection of elective courses are offered,
and students may elect to major in one of four areas: Arts and
Humanities, Business and Marketing, Engineering and Industrial
Systems Technology, and Health and Human Services. Majors are
offered in Graphic Design, Instrumental Performance, Vocal
Performance, Theatre, Photography, Art, Business Administration,
Accounting, Communications, Construction, International Studies,
Industrial Systems Technology, Agriscience, Pre-Engineering,
Military Science, and Health Science.
Auburn High School awards three diploma endorsements indicating
advanced study in a particular field, as well as the International
Baccalaureate Diploma. Auburn High offers nearly 30 college-level
Advanced Placement, Technical Advanced Placement, and International
Baccalaureate courses for college credit. Students are also
provided access to college courses at nearby Auburn University and
Southern Union State Community College.
Classes at Auburn High are arranged in a unique combination
block/alternating day schedule in which four 90 minute classes are
offered each day. Some classes meet every day for one semester,
while others alternate every other day for the whole year.
Achievements and accolades: Auburn High was ranked the 77th
best public high school overall and 28th best non-magnet public
high school in the nation by Newsweek in May 2006, one of the top
100 public high schools in the nation by the Associated Press based
on Advanced Placement test scores, the 125th best public high
school in the United States by the US News and World Report and the
second best educational value in the Southeast by SchoolMatch, as
reported in the Wall Street Journal.
Some 90% of Auburn High graduates go on to post-secondary
education, with on average 5% of the senior class earning National
Merit Finalist or National Achievement Finalist status. A full
quarter of AHS graduates receive academic scholarships to colleges
and universities ranging from local schools such as Auburn
University and Georgia Tech to national schools such as Duke, Rice,
Chicago, Vanderbilt, and the University of Virginia. In 2006,
seventy-eight seniors received 167 scholarships worth $4.2 million
to 68 different colleges in 27 states. 麻豆果冻传媒 AHS graduates attend
MIT, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania,
and Yale.
History: Auburn High was originally started as a frontier
school in 1837, less than three years after the Auburn area had
been opened to settlement. A two-story frame school building was
constructed in 1838, and in the early 1840s a separate male academy
had been spun off of the school. With the school for males solidly
established, and most of the secondary students now being female,
in 1843 the school was named the Auburn Female College.
The Auburn Female College attracted hundreds of boarding students
to Auburn in the 1840s and 1850s, from as far as Lowndes County and
Georgia, largely in part of it offering a complete secondary
education to women (including ancient and modern languages,
literature, mathematics, and musical arts) at the same academic
level of that given to men. The school was rechartered as a Mason
school in 1852, becoming the Auburn Masonic Female College.
Throughout the 1850s, the school flourished. The school physical
plant was expanded to include a chapel with the largest auditorium
in eastern Alabama and a fully equipped chemistry laboratory.
Faculty members included John M. Darby, a scientist who wrote his
own textbooks for his students, including a Textbook of Chemistry
and Botany of the Southern States, which was the earliest
compilation of flora in the South, and William P. Harrison a
Methodist theologan who was eventually appointed Chaplain of the
United States House of Representatives. The school was especially
strong in language offerings, with students in 1861 able to take
classes in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. The
Auburn Masonic Female College also hosted speakers and debates
among some of the era's greatest luminaries, most notably an 1860
debate over secession which included William Lowndes Yancey,
Alexander Stephens, Benjamin Harvey Hill, and Robert Toombs.
The Masons relinquished control back to the community in the late
1850s, returning the name to Auburn Female College. By the early
1860s, the school began admitting boys to the secondary division.
When the Civil War began in 1861, virtually the entire male junior
and senior classes of the school, as well as much of the faculty
joined Confederate military units, particularly, the 37th Alabama
Regiment. As the "principal teacher", W.F. Slaton, was also a major
in the regiment, classes in Auburn stopped for the remainder of the
war. The regiment was captured at Corinth, Mississippi, and exiled
to the Johnson's Island prisoner of war camp in Lake Erie. While
imprisoned there, Slaton held the school's classes in the camp.
Notably, the African American Union guards, who were prohibited by
law from attending school in their native Wisconsin, were invited
to join the classes, making Auburn High one of the first Southern
schools to integrate, some 90 years before Brown v. Board.
Upon the end of the war, students and teachers returned back to
Auburn, but economic hardships in the aftermath of the war and
Reconstruction left Auburn High closed for several years. In the
late 1860s, the school reopened in the building formerly occupied
by the male academy, though with substantially lower enrollment
than the two decades prior.
The next few decades were difficult ones for the school. State
funding was practically non-existent until the late 1870s, and the
town's economic condition was poor, making it difficult to support
the school. Whereas, prior to the war in 1855, the secondary
division enrolled 110 students, in 1889 "Auburn High School"--by
then, the school's official name--enrolled fewer than 20.
In 1892, Auburn University (then the Alabama Agricultural and
Mechanical College) decided to admit women. However, since the
college only admitted women with junior standing, Auburn High added
two more years of classes beyond the secondary level (equivalent to
freshman and sophomore college classes) for women. With this
addition, the name of the school was changed to the Auburn Female
Institute.
In 1899, a new, two-story school was built for Auburn High. In
1908, the school dropped the post-secondary program and became
"Auburn High School" once more. Around 1910, Auburn High fielded
its first basketball team, and by 1915, its first football squad.
In 1914, Auburn High became the flagship high school for the county
and was officially renamed Lee County High School as well as moving
into a new building.
In the period between 1910 and 1920, Auburn High changed from an
academy of the classic 19th century model, focusing on philosophy
and ancient languages, to a comprehensive high school offering
vocational and technical courses in addition to the academic
offerings. In 1925, Auburn High became one of the first high
schools in the state to be accredited by the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools. Over the next two decades, Auburn High
developed its modern extracurricular face, forming band, choir, and
other programs, as well as diversifying occupational classes. A new
school building was constructed in 1931, and in 1956, the school
was officially renamed Auburn High School again.
In 1961, the City of Auburn created its own school system, with
Auburn High as the new district's sole high school. In 1966, the
school moved to the current campus, organized as a "Freedom of
Choice" school designed to promote desegregation. In 1971, Auburn
High merged with nearby Drake High to complete its integration.
The last three decades have been marked with rapid growth of the
school. Five major additions have been made to Auburn High since
the original construction in 1966, and in 2004 the school was
changed from housing grades 9-12 to housing grades 10-12.
Extracurricular organizations: Auburn High School offers a
full slate of academic clubs, athletic teams, and service
organizations. Offerings include A Club; Advocacy Club; Anchor
Club; Anime Society; BEST Robotics; Color Guard/Honor Guard; DECA
(Organization); Diamond Dolls; Drill Team; English Honor Society;
Environmental Club; Family, Career, Community Leaders of America;
Fellowship of Christian Athletes; Film Appreciation Society; French
Club; French Honor Society; Future Business Leaders of America;
Future Farmers of America; Future Teachers of America; German Club;
German Honor Society; Government Club; Interact Club; Judicial
Club; Junior Civitan; Key Club; Math Team; Mu Alpha Theta;
Multicultural Club; National Art Honor Society; National Honor
Society; Pep Club; Raider Team; Rifle Team; Scholars' Bowl; Science
Club; Science Olympiad; Skills USA; Spanish Club; Spanish Honor
Society; Student Council; Student Outreach for Christ; The Sheet;
Theatre Center Stage; and Tiger Ambassadors.
Athletics: Auburn High School offers 11 men's and 10 women's
varsity sports, all in the large school (6A) classification of the
Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA). Auburn High has
one of the strongest overall athletic programs in the state, having
placed in the top ten of the 6A All-Sports rankings every year
since 1995, and ranking in the top four for the 2004-2005 and
2005-2006 school years. Auburn High has won a total of 32 state
championships since recordkeeping begain in the 1950s. Auburn High
traditionally has powerhouse programs in men's basketball, men's
and women's track, men's golf, men's and women's tennis, and men's
and women's soccer.
Football: Auburn High's football team competes in Region 3
of class 6A along with Central High of Phenix City, Dothan,
Enterprise, Northview High of Dothan, Opelika, Russell County, and
Smith's Station. Auburn High has become somewhat of a pipeline to
the NFL--since 2004, no high school has produced more All-Pro NFL
players than Auburn High. AHS alumni in the NFL include Marcus
Washington of the Washington Redskins, Osi Umenyiora of the New
York Giants, and Demarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys.
Auburn High's football team has a long history, dating back to
1915, with traditional rivalries against Opelika, Central, Benjamin
Russell, and Valley High Schools. The Auburn High football squad
has finished the season unbeaten on six occasions (1923, 1925,
1926, 1927, 1934, and 1952), all prior to the establishment of
statewide playoffs. Auburn High has once been ranked first in the
state (October 1967), and proceeded deepest into the playoffs in
2001, when the team reached the semifinal round.
Auburn High plays at 10,000 seat Duck Samford Stadium.
Basketball: Auburn High's men's basketball team has a rich
tradition as a powerhouse program. Auburn High won the 6A state
championship in 2005, and was state runner-up in 1924, 1987, 1991,
and 1996. The team is coached by 24-year veteran Frank Tolbert, who
has amassed a 535-241 record.
Auburn High plays at the 1,500 seat Auburn Fieldhouse on the Auburn
High campus.
Golf: Auburn High's men's golf program has in recent years
become one of the school's strongest sports. AHS has won each of
the three last 6A championships (2004, 2005, 2006), and returns the
nucleus of the 2006 squad for 2007. AHS girls' golf has also been
strong, having placed in the top five in the state twice in the
last five years.
Auburn High's official home course is Indian Pines Golf Course,
though the Auburn University Club and Robert Trent Jones' Grand
National are often used as home courses.
Track and field: Traditionally Auburn High's most laureled
sport, Auburn High's six track family sports--men's and women's
outdoor track, men's and women's indoor track, and men's and
women's cross country--have amassed twenty state championships. AHS
men's outdoor track squad has won seven seven AHSAA titles and has
placed in the top 10 at the state track meet each of the last five
years. AHS women's outdoor team won a state title in 1986, and has
also placed in the top 10 at state each of the last five years.
Men's indoor track has won four state titles, and men's cross
country has won the state crown six times. Prior to the creation of
the AHSAA, Auburn High won the Alabama Interscholastic Track and
Field Meet in 1921 and 1923.
Swimming and diving: Auburn High has always had a
competitive swimming program, with a particular strength in
developing divers. AHS divers have won nine state championships
since 1988, and have helped the Lady Tigers to four top five
finishes in the last five years at the state meet.
Auburn swims at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
Band: The Auburn High School Band is considered by many to
be one of the top high school concert bands in the United States.
The AHS Band was awarded the Sudler Flag of Honor by the John
Philip Sousa Foundation as the top high school concert ensemble in
the United States, Canada, and Japan in 1988. The Auburn High Band
has also been placed on the "Historic Roll of Honor of
Distinguished High School Concert Bands in America" as a band which
as attained "unusual levels of achievement nationally and which
[is] considered to be of historical importance and influence to the
nation's high school concert band programs." The concert band has
an all-time ratings record of 330-4-0-0-0, and has received less
than a perfect rating only three times since 1946, and has received
perfect ratings in from all judges since 1974. The Band has twice
performed for the Music Educators National Conference, and in 1996
became the first high school band ever invited to perform for a
College Band Directors National Association Conference.
Auburn High School's jazz ensemble, the Lab Band, has received
similar honors. The Lab Band was named one of the top ten high
school jazz bands in the United States in 1974, and in 1978
performed on the National Association of Jazz Educators "Project
II" album as one of "The Nation's Most Outstanding Jazz Bands".
Since then, the Lab Band has an all-judges record of 126-2-0-0-0,
and has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Science Olympiad: The Auburn High School Science Olympiad
team has been the dominant team in Alabama over the past two
decades. Auburn's Science Olympiad team has placed either first or
second in the state 18 out of the past 21 years, with participants
winning hundreds of gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Campus: Auburn High is situated on 42 acres (0.18 km虏) in
the east-central part of Auburn. The school is designed in a
campus-style setting, with nine detached buildings separated by
outdoor walkways and courtyards spread out over 70% of the campus
area. The campus contains academic classrooms, auditorium,
competition gym (the Auburn Fieldhouse), tennis courts, a baseball
field (Sam Welborn Field), a track, cafeteria, library, multi-media
room, small auditorium, practice gym, and physical education
fields. Off-campus athletic facilities include Duck Samford
Stadium, the Auburn Softball Complex, and the James E. Martin
Aquatic Center.
Technology: Auburn High School is in the initial stages of
the Auburn City Schools' 21st Century Technology Initiative. As
part of this initiative, every classroom will be equipped with a
digital smartboard, and the entire campus will be covered by a
wireless network. Starting in the 2007-2008 school year, every
student at Auburn High will be provided with a laptop computer
which will be theirs to use both in school and at home. The
initiative also provides considerable training for teachers in
integrating this technology into instruction.
Student body: Due in part to its proximity to a major
research university, Auburn High School has a relatively diverse
student body for the area.
Traditions - Mascot: Auburn High's mascot is the tiger. The
tiger was chosen because of its association with Auburn in Oliver
Goldsmith's 1770 poem The Deserted Village. The first line of the
poem is "Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain", while a
later line describes Auburn as, "where crouching tigers wait their
hapless prey."
Auburn High's costumed mascot is Samford, an anthropomorphic tiger.
Samford was created in 1995 and named for three symbols of the
school--Samford Avenue, which runs by the school; Duck Samford
Stadium, Auburn High's football stadium; and Samford Hall, the most
prominent building in Auburn. Kari Pierce was the first Samford in
1995.
Notable alumni: William J. Samford (1864) - Governor of
Alabama; William Spratling (1917) - Silversmith and artist; Joe
Beckwith (1973) - Major League Baseball pitcher; Ted Vives (1982) -
Composer; Man or Astro-man? (1980s) - Surf punk band; William Chen
(1988) - Winner in 2 2006 World Series of Poker events; Ace Atkins
(1989) - Author, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist; James Fukai
(1992) - Guitarist, Trust Company; Mark Spencer (1995) -
President/CEO, Digium, creator of Asterisk PBX; Marcus Washington
(1996) - NFL football player; Osi Umenyiora (1999) - NFL football
player; Demarcus Ware (2001) - NFL football player.
Auburn High School is ranked #243 out of 1,285 schools, which ranks it among the top 20% of public schools in Alabama.
What schools are Auburn High School often compared to?
Auburn High Schoolis often viewed alongside schools like Opelika High School by visitors of our site.
What percent of students have achieved state testing proficiency in math and reading?
52% of students have achieved math proficiency (compared to the 29% AL state average), while 53% of students have achieved reading proficiency (compared to the 47% AL state average).
What is the graduation rate of Auburn High School?
The graduation rate of Auburn High School is 95%, which is higher than the Alabama state average of 88%.
How many students attend Auburn High School?
2,163 students attend Auburn High School.
What is the racial composition of the student body?
58% of Auburn High School students are White, 22% of students are Black, 11% of students are Asian, 7% of students are Hispanic, and 2% of students are Two or more races.
What is the student:teacher ratio of Auburn High School?
Auburn High School has a student ration of 17:1, which is equal to the Alabama state average of 17:1.
What grades does Auburn High School offer ?
Auburn High School offers enrollment in grades 10-12
What school district is Auburn High School part of?
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Quick Stats (2025)
Grades: 10-12
Enrollment: 2,163 students
Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1
Minority Enrollment: 42%
Graduation Rate
: 95% (Top 20%)
Overall Testing Rank
: Top 20%
Math Proficiency
: 52% (Top 10%)
Reading Proficiency
: 53% (Top 50%)
Science Proficiency
: 56% (Top 20%)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), AL Dept. of Education
