Phillips Academy

Summary:

Phillips Academy is a public elementary school serving grades PK-8 in Birmingham, Alabama, with a student population of 654 that is predominantly African American. Despite being part of the Birmingham City School District, which is ranked 117 out of 137 districts in the state, Phillips Academy consistently outperforms the district and the state of Alabama in academic assessments across multiple grade levels and subjects.

Phillips Academy has maintained a strong statewide ranking, consistently placing in the top 25-30% of Alabama elementary schools in recent years. For the 2023-2024 school year, the school ranked 165 out of 684 elementary schools in the state, earning a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger. The school's African American students consistently rank in the top 5-6% of all Alabama elementary schools, earning a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger in this category. Even with a high percentage of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (over 57% free/reduced lunch recipients), Phillips Academy still manages to outperform the Birmingham City district and the state in academic measures.

When compared to other nearby schools in the Birmingham City School District, such as Avondale Elementary, EPIC Alternative Elementary, and Hayes K8, Phillips Academy stands out as a high-performing outlier, with significantly higher academic proficiency rates and statewide rankings. The school's consistent performance, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests it has effective strategies and practices in place to support student learning, offering valuable lessons and potential for replication to improve educational outcomes in other disadvantaged communities.


Detail:

Public PK, KG-8

 2316 7th Avenue North
       Birmingham, AL  35203


(205) 231-9500

District: Birmingham City

SchoolDigger Rank:
165th of 684 Alabama Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $10,154 Help


Students who attend Phillips Academy usually attend:

Middle:    Wilkerson Middle School
High:    Parker High School

Student/teacher ratio:  19.8 Help
Number of students:  654

Racial breakdown:

African American:
95.4%
Hispanic:
2.6%
Two or more races:
1.1%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  57.5% Help


 See top rated Alabama elementary schools

 Compare Phillips Academy to nearby elementary schools!

Performance Trends
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Compare Details Phillips Academy ranks better than 75.9% of elementary schools in Alabama. It also ranks 3rd among 26 ranked elementary schools in the Birmingham City School District. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 73.76. (See more...)
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Compare Details Phillips Academy ranks better than 96.2% of middle schools in Alabama. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 95.88. (See more...)
Student Body
Help
Compare Details Racial makeup is: African American (95.4%), Hispanic (2.6%), two or more races (1.1%). (See more...)
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Compare Details 57.5% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)
Teachers
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Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Phillips Academy is 19.8. 22 elementary schools in the Birmingham City School District have better student/teacher ratios. (See more...)
Help
Compare Phillips Academy employs 33 full-time teachers.
Finance
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Compare Details The average total spent per student at Phillips Academy is $10,154. 21 elementary schools in the Birmingham City School District spend more per student.
Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Phillips Academy:

SchoolDigger ranks Phillips Academy 165th of 684 Alabama public elementary schools. (See Phillips Academy in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Male students:
African American students:

SchoolDigger ranks Phillips Academy 17th of 442 Alabama public middle schools. (See Phillips Academy in the ranking list.)

Middle School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Male students:
African American students:


Birmingham City:

SchoolDigger ranks Birmingham City 117th of 137 Alabama school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Your rating for Phillips Academy?

Rank History for Phillips Academy

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Compare

Rank History for all elementary school students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2008 70.83 169th 698 75.8%
2009 82.23 58th 696 91.7%
2010 66.88 223rd 704 68.3%
2011 75.98 117th 709 83.5%
2012 78.41 77th 696 88.9%
2013 75.42 96th 696 86.2%
2014 78.58 105th 695 84.9%
2015 69.07 177th 691 74.4%
2016 64.13 229th 691 66.9%
2017 71.16 167th 688 75.7%
2018 72.38 177th 680 74.0%
2019 83.17 91st 681 86.6%
2021 56.28 285th 692 58.8%
2022 70.01 182nd 687 73.5%
2023 73.53 160th 680 76.5%
2024 73.76 165th 684 75.9%
See the entire list of Alabama Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for elementary school Low Socio Economic Status students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 84.63 43rd 567 92.4%
2018 63.60 209th 651 67.9%
2019 81.80 60th 649 90.8%
2021 46.59 353rd 653 45.9%
2022 62.13 222nd 651 65.9%
2023 66.49 176th 623 71.7%
2024 74.93 127th 670 81.0%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for elementary school Female students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 69.33 165th 639 74.2%
2018 73.14 151st 640 76.4%
2019 79.70 97th 646 85.0%
2021 56.76 273rd 656 58.4%
2022 67.76 189th 656 71.2%
2023 72.84 155th 645 76.0%
2024 72.30 159th 650 75.5%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for elementary school Male students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 65.62 189th 639 70.4%
2018 70.30 180th 650 72.3%
2019 82.01 82nd 650 87.4%
2021 53.64 300th 669 55.2%
2022 69.92 176th 669 73.7%
2023 72.05 160th 649 75.3%
2024 72.33 172nd 655 73.7%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for elementary school African American students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 92.02 19th 423 95.5%
2019 96.79 9th 426 97.9%
2021 83.21 35th 426 91.8%
2022 89.90 26th 426 93.9%
2023 89.24 24th 427 94.4%
2024 87.76 26th 420 93.8%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for African American Students!

Data source: test scores: Alabama State Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

Rank History for Phillips Academy

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Compare

Rank History for all middle school students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Middle Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2008 94.76 7th 417 98.3%
2009 91.92 13th 425 96.9%
2010 92.46 9th 435 97.9%
2011 92.99 7th 435 98.4%
2012 90.95 9th 436 97.9%
2013 86.48 15th 436 96.6%
2014 94.59 14th 438 96.8%
2015 86.25 45th 430 89.5%
2016 90.63 31st 432 92.8%
2017 87.82 33rd 432 92.4%
2018 83.73 51st 423 87.9%
2019 88.82 32nd 437 92.7%
2021 76.19 67th 440 84.8%
2022 92.67 24th 432 94.4%
2023 93.82 24th 437 94.5%
2024 95.88 17th 442 96.2%
See the entire list of Alabama Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for middle school Low Socio Economic Status students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Middle Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 95.40 10th 349 97.1%
2018 87.77 19th 396 95.2%
2019 85.44 20th 396 94.9%
2021 67.03 101st 415 75.7%
2022 91.59 11th 421 97.4%
2023 97.10 6th 410 98.5%
2024 95.77 10th 437 97.7%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for middle school Female students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Middle Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 84.70 36th 380 90.5%
2018 81.09 53rd 392 86.5%
2019 83.56 41st 399 89.7%
2021 74.97 65th 415 84.3%
2022 85.85 39th 423 90.8%
2023 90.94 31st 417 92.6%
2024 93.28 19th 426 95.5%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for middle school Male students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Middle Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2017 84.93 35th 380 90.8%
2018 84.22 39th 397 90.2%
2019 90.22 24th 399 94.0%
2021 71.46 77th 418 81.6%
2022 94.97 16th 427 96.3%
2023 93.46 21st 419 95.0%
2024 95.92 19th 428 95.6%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for middle school African American students at Phillips Academy

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Middle Schools AL State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 97.52 8th 247 96.8%
2019 98.61 7th 252 97.2%
2021 92.78 12th 266 95.5%
2022 99.60 3rd 271 98.9%
2023 99.51 2nd 263 99.2%
2024 99.64 3rd 269 98.9%
See the entire list of Best Alabama Elementary Schools for African American Students!

Data source: test scores: Alabama State Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Phillips Academy Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 








Data source: Alabama State Department of Education

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 5)
100%

0%

0%

0%

0%

  

Reviews:
by a student
Sunday, September 5, 2010

Open Quote Phillips Academy is a very great place for a learning environment. Close Quote



Enrollment information for Phillips Academy

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Compare
Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
2008 3 469 3 0 0 n/a n/a 0 475
2009 3 649 3 0 0 n/a n/a 0 655
2010 4 676 4 0 0 n/a n/a 0 684
2011 6 676 5 1 0 0 0 0 688
2012 6 698 2 6 0 0 0 0 712
2013 8 726 1 8 0 0 1 0 744
2014 14 707 4 10 0 1 3 0 739
2015 9 723 4 12 0 0 2 0 750
2016 10 659 4 10 0 0 2 0 685
2017 5 704 1 9 0 0 13 0 732
2018 7 692 0 5 1 1 8 0 714
2019 9 672 0 8 2 0 12 0 703
2020 9 633 0 11 3 0 8 0 664
2021 10 638 0 18 3 0 5 0 674
2022 5 587 0 16 3 0 7 0 618
2023 3 624 0 17 3 0 7 0 654

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Phillips Academy

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
2008 475 28.0 17.0 51.6
2009 655 31.9 20.3 50.8
2010 684 43.0 15.9 54.1
2011 688 45.0 15.2 43.3
2012 712 40.0 17.8 60
2013 744 43.0 17.3 62.9
2014 739 38.0 19.4 56.7
2015 750 34.0 22.0 29.1
2016 685 37.0 18.5 31.7
2017 732 37.0 19.7 30.7
2018 714 38.0 18.7 58
2019 703 36.0 19.5 58
2020 664 31.0 21.4 58
2021 674 32.0 21.0 58.2
2022 618 32.0 19.3 57.4
2023 654 33.0 19.8 57.5

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Phillips Academy

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
2008 475 28.0 17.0 51.6
2009 655 31.9 20.3 50.8
2010 684 43.0 15.9 54.1
2011 688 45.0 15.2 43.3
2012 712 40.0 17.8 60
2013 744 43.0 17.3 62.9
2014 739 38.0 19.4 56.7
2015 750 34.0 22.0 29.1
2016 685 37.0 18.5 31.7
2017 732 37.0 19.7 30.7
2018 714 38.0 18.7 58
2019 703 36.0 19.5 58
2020 664 31.0 21.4 58
2021 674 32.0 21.0 58.2
2022 618 32.0 19.3 57.4
2023 654 33.0 19.8 57.5

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Phillips Academy

Help

YearExpenditures from Federal FundsExpenditures from State and Local FundsTotal Expenditures Per Pupil (All Funds)
2019 $1,011 (10.0%) $9,140 (90.0%) $10,154

Data source: Alabama Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Phillips Academy

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 91st of 681 Elementary schoolsRanks 160th of 680 Elementary schools
 10.2%
Ranks 32nd of 437 Middle schoolsRanks 24th of 437 Middle schools
 1.8%

Test Scores

% proficient
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
% proficient
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
3rd Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)66.122.2
 43.9%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)30.819.1
 11.7%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (Alabama)57.543.6
 13.9%
4th Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)7048.2
 21.8%
   4th Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)21.311.2
 10.1%
   4th Grade Mathematics (Alabama)47.334.9
 12.4%
5th Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)65.172.6
 7.5%
   5th Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)21.312.6
 8.7%
   5th Grade Mathematics (Alabama)44.933.9
 10.9%
6th Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)83.567.4
 16%
   6th Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)21.312.7
 8.6%
   6th Grade Mathematics (Alabama)45.330.8
 14.5%
7th Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)80.240
 40.2%
   7th Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)16.511.6
 4.9%
   7th Grade Mathematics (Alabama)43.121
 22.1%
8th Grade Mathematics (Phillips Academy)57.934.9
 23%
   8th Grade Mathematics (Birmingham City)16.57
 9.5%
   8th Grade Mathematics (Alabama)44.721.1
 23.6%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students703654
 7%
African American672624
 7.1%
American Indian23
 50%
Asian00
Hispanic817
 112.5%
Pacific Islander00
White93
 66.7%
Two or More Races127
 41.7%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients58%57.5%
 0.5%


Schools Near Phillips Academy









Frequently Asked Questions about Phillips Academy

Students who attend Phillips Academy usually go on to attend:

Middle : Wilkerson Middle School
High : Parker High School

Phillips Academy ranks 165th of 684 Alabama elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.

In the 2022-23 school year, 654 students attended Phillips Academy.

Students at Phillips Academy are 95% African American, 3% Hispanic, 1% Two or more races.


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Alabama State Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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