The state report card assigns a letter grade to each school, each school system and the state itself. In the report card for the BCS, five schools have grades of “F,” meaning their average score is 59 or less on the assessments done by ALSDE. By that same criteria, 26 score “D” (60-69), 7 score “C” (70-79), 4 score “B” (80-89), and 1 scores “A” (90 and above).

Birmingham lags behind the state averages in several areas. Where the schools across the state scored a 60.27 in academic achievement, BCS scored 38.39; the state schools as a whole showed 88.04 in academic growth, while BCS scored 77.20; where the state as a whole scored 87 on the graduation rate measure, BCS scored 77.80; where the state scored 66 percent on college and career readiness, BCS scored 48; and where the state schools overall scored 17.68 percent when measuring chronic absenteeism, Birmingham scored 28.03.

Nick Patterson and Cheryl Slocum