Education
Birmingham Metro Schools Get As to Ds on First Letter Grade Report Cards
Look up details and the state and individual school systems here.
Metro Birmingham school systems scored As to Ds on Alabama’s first-ever letter grade report cards for schools.
The letter grade and performance information for each of Alabama’s 1,325 public schools and 173 school systems were released by the Alabama State Education in an on-line dashboard Thursday morning.
The dashboard includes a letter grade, each system or school’s performance on standardized tests and other indicators. The indicators and the percentage of each that figured into the letter grades and scores are: academic achievement, 20 percent; academic growth (improvements from past years), 30 percent; graduation rate, 30 percent; college and career readiness, 10 percent; and chronic absenteeism, 10 percent. Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students absent 15 or more days in a school year. The dashboard is searchable by school system and school.
Grades for the 11 school systems in Jefferson County and the three in neighboring Shelby County cover the full spectrum. Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook, Trussville and Vestavia Hills scored As. Birmingham, Bessemer, Fairfield, Midfield and Tarrant scored Ds.
The letter grade report cards are a new requirement of the Alabama Accountability Act, passed by the state Legislature in 2012. The act also requires a public release of a list “failing schools,” those with students testing at the lowest 6 percent. Parents have the option of transferring students out of failing schools. The Birmingham metro area has 22 on the failing list.
The academic achievement and growth indicators are based on student scores on the ACT Aspire standardized test system, which the state will not be using in 2018. The state board has not selected a replacement for ACT Aspire.
ACT Aspire has been the standard annual reading and math test given to Alabama students in third through eighth grade and to 10th-graders in Alabama. Students in fifth, seventh and 10th grades are also tested in science in the ACT program.
Metro-area school systems and their letter grades and overall scores on Alabama’s report cards are:
Birmingham City Schools:
D, 66 points.
Academic achievement: 38.39 percent; academic growth: 77.20 percent; graduation rate: 77.80; college and career readiness, 48 percent; chronic absenteeism, 28.03
Jefferson County Schools:
C, 77 points.
Academic achievement, 52.40; academic growth, 84.88; graduation rate: 87.80; college and career readiness, 63; chronic absenteeism, 18.73.
Alabaster City Schools:
B, 87 points.
Academic achievement: 69.47; academic growth, 92.55; graduation rate: 96.80; college and career readiness: 76; chronic absenteeism: 12.41
Bessemer City:
D, 64 points.
Academic achievement, 36.90; academic growth, 76; graduation rate: 78.40; college and career readiness, 28; chronic absenteeism: 21.55.
Fairfield City:
D, 62 points.
Academic achievement, 29.06; academic growth, 65.55; graduation rate, 84.20; college and career readiness, 40; chronic absenteeism, 10.78.
Homewood City:
A, 94 points.
Academic achievement, 89.54; academic growth, 100; graduation rate, 93; college and career readiness, 87; chronic absenteeism, 7.65.
Hoover City:
A, 92 points.
Academic achievement, 81.88; academic growth, 100; graduation rate, 93; college and career readiness, 83; chronic absenteeism, 9.77
Leeds City:
B, 80 points.
Academic achievement, 55.48; academic growth, 85; graduation rate, 92; college and career readiness, 78; chronic absenteeism, 17.19.
Midfield City:
D, 64 points.
Academic achievement, 26.96; academic growth, 70.89; graduation rate, 84.40; college and career readiness, 443, chronic absenteeism, 25.39.
Mountain Brook:
A, 98 points.
Academic achievement, 99.92; academic growth, 100; graduation rate, 97; college and career readiness, 97; chronic absenteeism, 6.93.
Pelham City Schools:
B, 88 points.
Academic achievement, 66.14; academic growth, 95.50; graduation rate, 95.40; college and career readiness, 85; chronic absenteeism, 10.78
Shelby County Schools:
B, 88 points.
Academic achievement, 75.11; academic growth, 95.60; graduation rate, 93; college and career readiness, 79; chronic absenteeism, 14.85.
Tarrant City:
D, 65 points.
Academic achievement, 36.68; academic growth, 74.27; graduation rate: 81.80; college and career readiness, 34; chronic absenteeism, 26.22.
Trussville City:
A, 93 points.
Academic achievement, 84.18; academic growth, 98.09; graduation rate, 96; college and career ready, 87; chronic absenteeism, 9.44.
Vestavia City:
A, 96 points.
Academic achievement, 96.19; academic growth, 100; graduation rate, 94.80; college and career readiness, 91; chronic absenteeism, 9.23.
A separate education dashboard with federal data on Alabama schools was posted Dec. 30 to meet federal standards. It includes some of the same data released in the state education report card.
