BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama schools are making strides, with most showing improvement in the latest round of K-12 state report cards.
More than 800 schools raised their scores, and some jumped by a whole letter grade or two, sparking celebrations across the state. But the data also highlights significant challenges, particularly for high schools and students in disadvantaged groups.
Here’s a closer look at the trends, standout performers and areas needing attention in this year’s report cards.
Most schools improved – 802 raised their scores
Statewide, 802 schools raised their overall score by one or more points, while 378 dropped by one or more points. (A full list of school grades can be found here.)
Three schools raised their scores by 20 or more points – out of 100 total possible points – rising from an ‘F’ on last year’s report card to a ‘C’ on this years’ report card.
Two of the three schools raising their score by 20 or more points were Birmingham charter schools: Legacy Prep and i3 Academy elementary, who raised scores by 24 and 23 points, respectively. Birmingham’s K-8 Inglenook School, raised its score by 21 points.
Another 90 schools raised their overall scores by 10 or more points. Most of those are elementary schools, but 15 were high schools, which typically have a tougher time raising their overall score because they are graded on up to six measures, where elementary and middle schools are graded on up to four measures. In other words, high schools need to improve in more areas than elementary schools to raise their overall scores.
There are schools on the other end of the scale, with two schools, J.F. Shields High School in Monroe County and Wilkerson Middle School in Birmingham, dropped 25 and 20 points, respectively. Both dropped from C’s on last year’s report cards to F’s this year.
Another 21 schools dropped between 10 and 20 points. Five of those were high schools, with the remainder elementary and middle schools.
Letter grades leap – 72 schools jumped from ‘B’ to ‘A’
Seventy-two schools rose from a ‘B’ – some with low B’s to an ‘A,’ and six schools – all elementary schools and two in Etowah County – jumped from a ‘C’ to an ‘A’.
While the report cards were released after school ended on Friday – the start of a week-long Thanksgiving holiday for most districts – some schools posted their grades on social media.
Springville High Principal Greg Moore spread the news on X, formerly Twitter.
I’m beyond proud 🥹 of our faculty, staff, students, and community! It’s Great To Be A Springville Tiger!#tigercode#wearetigers pic.twitter.com/ePIWvxCqzJ
— Dr. Gregory D. Moore Jr. (@servemoore52) November 22, 2024
Springville Middle School rose from 88 to 90 – earning an ‘A’, also.
Etowah County praised their schools in a Facebook post.
Tuscaloosa City’s Westlawn Middle School raised their letter grade to a ‘C’ for the first time ever and officials took to X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate.
For the first time in school history, Westlawn achieves the grade of a C on the Alabama State Report Card! This milestone highlights our incredible progress and dedication to success!#WeAreWestlawn #FalconPride #WestlawnTCS #AmazingToTheCore #WestlawnExplores@TCSBoardofEd pic.twitter.com/IVMKqdrNM7
— Westlawn Middle School (@WestlawnTCS) November 24, 2024
Seven schools rose from a ‘D’ last year to a ‘B’ this year, and some took to social media to spread the word.
Speake School in Lawrence County, is one of those schools – and they took a victory lap on Facebook.
School officials are very aware of the perception that letter grades send about their schools. It’s rare to see a school post about a drop in scores or earning a ‘D’ or ‘F,’ and it’s unclear how or if schools with chronic low grades even share those grades with their communities.
All-A Districts: What sets them apart?
There are 11 districts – out of 151 statewide – where all of the schools within a district earned an ‘A:’
- Arab City – 4 schools, 50% student poverty level
- Cullman City – 5 schools, 39% student poverty level
- Gulf Shores City – 3 schools, 47% student poverty level
- Homewood City – 5 schools, 27% student poverty level
- Mountain Brook City – 6 schools, 3% student poverty level
- Orange Beach City – 2 schools, 24% student poverty level
- Piedmont City – 3 schools, 65% student poverty level
- Satsuma City – 2 schools, 51% student poverty level
- Trussville City – 5 schools, 19% student poverty level
- Vestavia Hills City – 9 schools, 12% student poverty level and
- Winfield City – 3 schools, 56% student poverty level
A quick glance at the list and one thing is clear: With the exception of Piedmont City schools, all have lower levels of student poverty than the state’s 62% poverty level. That isn’t to say that the districts aren’t exceptional in earning A’s, just that it takes more effort and resources to teach students where poverty is concentrated at high levels.
A second thing to know about this list is that each district has only one high school. High schools typically score lower than other schools because they only test students once – in the 11th grade – and the test they take is the ACT college entrance exam.
In districts where college is not the first option students consider, taking a college entrance exam – that Alabama still hasn’t proven to the U.S. Department of Education is aligned to Alabama’s academic standards – is a stretch.
The score on the ACT is factored into two heavily weighted areas of the report card: Academic achievement and academic growth. If students get low scores, it’s tough for them to get a high grade on their school report card.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey and the state board of education are considering making the ACT optional – while still offering it to all high school juniors – and creating a different test that is based on Alabama’s academic standards.
Student group gaps: Successes and struggles across Alabama
For accountability purposes, and to know where urgent efforts need to be made, report card measures are broken down by groups of students based on race, disability status, economic status and English proficiency status. That creates four overall groups of students and seven groups within the race group:
- Race:
- American Indian/Alaska Native,
- Asian,
- Black or African American,
- Hispanic/Latino,
- Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander,
- Two or more races and
- White
- Economically disadvantaged,
- Students with disabilities and
- Students with limited English proficiency.
With few exceptions, students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency are typically among the lowest-scoring groups for measures of achievement used on the report card. These two groups, however, have seen rates in some measures improve at the highest rates of all other groups of students.
In student achievement, economically disadvantaged students made the most progress since 2017, outpacing students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency. Students with disabilities are the lowest performing group, earning 32 out of 100 points on the 2024 report card.
Within racial groups, all students are progressing, though African American students lag behind other racial groups considerably. Black students are also more likely to be a part of economically disadvantaged families than other racial groups, according to data on the federal report card.
Where academic growth is concerned, students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency have made the most progress since 2017 – each adding 15 points to their 2017 scores of 67 and 76, respectively. But they, like other groups of students, dropped very slightly in academic growth from 2023 to 2024.
Black students, as well as students who are economically disadvantaged or have disabilities have higher rates of chronic absenteeism – just over 18% in each group – than other groups of students.
White students, American Indian students and economically disadvantaged students have improved their chronic absenteeism rates the most since 2017 – dropped by five points each. Asian students have the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 5%.
College and career readiness rates have improved the most among students with disabilities, rising more than 10 points to 64 points in 2024 – and that’s up by more than 40 points since scoring 24 points in 2017.
Students with limited English proficiency have seen the next highest level of improvement since 2017, rising 32 points to 54 points in 2024. This group still has the lowest rate among all student groups, though.
Students with disabilities have seen the highest point gain in graduation rates since 2017, rising from 53 points to 78 points in 2024. Students with limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged students have increased graduation rates by seven and five points, respectively, over the same length of time.
The chart below allows you to choose each indicator – academic achievement, academic growth, chronic absenteeism, college and career readiness and graduation rate – for student groups, incorporating all students across the state. Measures are available by school and district on the state and federal report card sites.
Click here if you are unable to see the chart.