Report card day was a special one for Franklin County Schools Superintendent of Education Greg Hamilton as the Alabama Department of Education's 2025-26 state report cards were released Thursday, as five of the system's nine schools received 'A' overall grades.
The entire Franklin County Schools system received an overall 89, at the top of the 'B' range, a one-point improvement from 2024-25 and the highest overall score the system has ever received.
Alabama state school and district report cards are governed by a 2012 Act, Alabama Act No. 2012-402, and calculated using a combination of key performance and accountability indicators, including: Academic achievement, academic growth, graduation rate, college and career readiness, chronic absenteeism and progress in English Language Proficiency.
Belgreen High School, East Franklin Junior High School, Phil Campbell Elementary, Red Bay Elementary and Red Bay High School all received an overall score of 91, in the 'A' range.
Vina (89), Phil Campbell High School (86) and Tharptown Elementary School (80) received overall 'B' grades and Tharptown High School got a 78, good for an overall 'C.'
For the reporting year of 2025-26, Franklin County Schools had enrollment of 3,400 students, with demographics of 73.18%
“I am tremendously pleased with the progress our system and each of our schools continues to show,” Hamilton said Thursday. “It demonstrates the true team effort that starts with our school board, our administrators, teachers, support staff and, of course, our students.
“This is a process though and we will continue to work every day on improving the quality of education our students receive,” Hamilton added.
Belgreen High School's 91 was the result of outstanding scores in Academic Growth (97.29), Graduation Rate (100), Chronic Absenteeism (6.76) and College and Career Readiness (100).
College and Career Readiness is scored 1-100, as are all but the Chronic Absenteeism grade, and it measures the percentage of high school students in a four-year graduation school who successfully meet at least one state-approved postsecondary readiness indicator before graduation. Those indicators include ACT scores, AP scores, dual enrollment-/postsecondary credit, ACT WorkKeys, military enlistment and/or industry credentials/CTE.
Chronic absenteeism is the one grade where a lower numerical grade is better. It measures the percentage of students at a school who are not chronically absent, which means they missed no more than 18 days during the school year.
East Franklin, which is not scored on graduation rate, excelled in academic growth (100) and chronic absenteeism (9.95).
Academic growth measures the improvement of individual students in English Language Arts, math and science from one year to the next, not just how they scored on a single test.
Phil Campbell Elementary also earned a 100 on academic growth, with 'B' scores on academic achievement (80.89) and chronic absenteeism (10.26). Chronic absenteeism must be less than 10 for an 'A' grade.
Red Bay Elementary earned a 100 on academic growth, once again demonstrating the system's continued effort for improvement, and an 'A' chronic absenteeism score of 9.02.
Red Bay High School's overall 'A' grade came from 'A' scores in academic growth (96.95), graduation rate (97.56) and college and career readiness (100).
The school's 'D' grade in academic achievement (69.02) was the primary area of concern. Academic achievement measures student proficiency on statewide standardized assessments in the core subjects including English Language Arts, Math and Science.
When you see Vina High School's 'A' scores in academic growth (90.60), graduation rate (100), chronic absenteeism (9.39) and college and career readiness (100), make it difficult to understand how the school narrowly missed an overall 'A' grade with its 89.
In academic achievement Vina received a 61.73 'D' grade. The school was not evaluated on English Language Proficiency because it did not meet the demographic requirements to trigger that criteria.
Phil Campbell High School also received 'A' scores in academic growth (90.82), graduation rate (90.28), chronic absenteeism (6.4) and college and career readiness (94.44), with the lone negative its 63.57 'D' grade in academic achievement.
Tharptown Elementary School's 80 was a six-point drop from last year's 86. It posted a tremendous score in chronic absenteeism (5.66), with scores in the 'B' range on academic growth, 'D' on academic achievement and an 'F' in English Language Proficiency (50.53).
English Language Proficiency measures the progress that English Learner (EL) students make in acquiring English proficiency over time, measured through assessments. Only schools that meet the minimum number of non-English proficient students are evaluated in this criteria.
The state's overall public school score in this category was a failing 49.92 for 2025-26.
Tharptown High School earned a 100 on graduation rate, a 67.63 'D' on academic growth and failing scores of 47.47 in academic achievement and 25.81 in progress in English Language Proficiency.
You can access overall school system scores as well as individual school grades by logging onto https://statereportcard.alsde.edu.