BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Test scores in Alabama are rising overall, but the story looks different depending on location. Some districts continue to post strong gains, while others struggle with low proficiency tied closely to poverty.
Alabama Daily News reviewed the spring 2025 Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program results – and built interactive charts showing results by district and by school – to see where gains were made and what the numbers show about growth and gaps.
The connection between poverty and proficiency remains strong: the higher the percentage of students in poverty, the lower the proficiency rate in that district. Even within that relationship, the range of scores is striking – about 80 percentage points in math, 65 in English language arts and 75 in science.
Districts with the highest levels of proficiency were those with the lowest levels of poverty, including Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Orange Beach and Trussville.
The lowest proficiency rates – in some cases single digits in math – were in districts where 80% or more of their students live in poverty, including Perry and Sumter counties and Fairfield, Lanett and Tarrant City schools.
Full results – first by district and then by school – are included later in this article.
What about growth?
Looking at proficiency alone shows where students are today, but growth tells whether more students are getting there than last year. Educators say that as long as scores continue to move upward and more students reach proficiency, progress is being made.
Some districts posted double-digit growth despite high poverty rates:
- Elba City: 60% proficient in ELA, up from 49% last year
- Barbour County: 35% proficient in ELA, up from 24%
- Greene County: 30% proficient in ELA, up from 20%
In math, several districts with high poverty levels also grew by double digits:
- Thomasville City: 38% proficient, up from 27%
- Haleyville City: 46% proficient, up from 35%
- Marion County: 44% proficient, up from 34%
Poverty’s impact on proficiency
For the first time in recent years, the Alabama Department of Education released results for students who are not economically disadvantaged – essentially the counterpart to students in poverty.
The gaps are wide, often 20 to 40 percentage points or more, and are generally larger in higher-achieving districts.
In Homewood City Schools, just under 80% of students not in poverty reached proficiency on the math test compared to 33% of students in poverty – a 44-point gap.
In Vestavia Hills, 90% of non-economically disadvantaged students reached proficiency in ELA compared to 67% of students in poverty – a 33-point gap.
Explore the results
Use the chart below to explore district-level results for all students, as well as students who are economically disadvantaged and those who are not. Click here if you are unable to see the chart.
Want to see how your school compares? The interactive chart below lets you look up results for the “all students” group. Click here if you are unable to see the chart.
If you’d like to explore the test data further, ADN created an interactive dashboard with filters to compare results by year, subject and student group. It’s best viewed on a desktop.
About the data
The Alabama Department of Education releases ACAP results each year in spreadsheets with district- and school-level results for 10 student groups by gender, race and ethnicity. That adds up to nearly a million lines of data for each subject. ADN extracted the fields needed for this analysis.
Earlier years are posted under the “Proficiency” tab on the “School Performance” page of the ALSDE website.
What do you think?
What questions do you have about these results? Are test scores helpful in showing what’s happening in your local schools?
Find me on X at @trish_crain or email [email protected].
For more stories with academic measures and results from Alabama’s K-12 schools:
- Alabama test scores rise in English, math across student groups, slight decline in science
- Reading and math gains highlight latest Alabama student test scores
- Graduation rates are rising in Alabama: See the trends, look up your school
- Higher bar, strong results: Alabama third grade reading scores improve in many districts
- Alabama student outcomes improve in reading, graduation and career readiness
- Alabama’s academic recovery leads nation, yet deep disparities remain
- Nation’s report card shows gains for Alabama