Birmingham City

The Birmingham City school district in Alabama consists of 43 schools, including 27 elementary schools, 8 middle schools, 7 high schools, and 1 alternative school. The district faces significant challenges, with overall low academic performance, high poverty rates, and wide disparities in resources and outcomes between the top-performing and lower-performing schools.

A few standout schools in the district include Ramsay High School, which consistently ranks among the top schools in the state and has significantly higher test scores than the Birmingham City and Alabama averages. EPIC Alternative Elementary School and Phillips Academy also stand out, with exceptional performance and high proficiency rates in math and English. However, the district as a whole is ranked 117th out of 137 districts in Alabama and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger, indicating significant room for improvement.

Across the Birmingham City district, 11th grade proficiency rates are low, ranging from 0-27.89% in math, 4.14-41.05% in science, and 1.37-43.17% in English. Free/reduced lunch rates are very high, with most schools having over 80% of students qualifying. Spending per student varies widely, from $8,907 to $19,712, with an average of around $11,500, and student-teacher ratios range from 14.5 to 27.3. These disparities in resources and funding likely contribute to the stark contrast in performance between the top-performing and lower-performing schools in the district.