Russellville City Schools jumps into ‘A’ range on latest state report card
Fueled by near perfect scores in academic growth, graduation rate and college and career readiness, Russellville City Schools received an overall ‘A’ grade of 93 for the 2024-2025 school year on the Alabama Department of Education’s State Report Card released November 13th.
The annual report card, done for each Alabama public school system and individual school, determines scores in six categories: academic achievement, academic growth, graduation rate, progress in English Language Proficiency, chronic absenteeism and college/career readiness.
West Elementary School and Russellville Elementary School received ‘A’ scores of 93. Russellvile Middle School earned a ‘B’ 86 and Russellville High School’s grade was an 82, also within the ‘B’ range.
Significant to those grades was the fact that three of the system’s four schools improved their overall scores from 2023-2024’s report card, and one remained the same from last year.
“These scores are a testament to the hard work that our teachers, faculty and students have put in,” said RCS Superintendent of Education Dr. Tim Guinn. “Any time you have consistent success across the system, in all schools, it really shows the impact our teachers are making. I am very proud of our students’ success. This overall ‘A’ is a reflection of what our system truly is.”
West Elementary saw its overall grade jump six points, 87 to 93, from last year.
Elementary and middle schools are evaluated on academic achievement, academic growth, progress in English Language proficiency and chronic absenteeism, which measures the number of students who miss at least 18 days in a school year.
West’s academic growth score was a perfect 100. The school also had a chronic absenteeism rate well below the state average. Those two factors helped propel the school into the ‘A’ grade level.
Russellville Elementary grade of 93 was a seven-point improvement from last year’s 86.
Again, a perfect academic growth score, outstanding progress in English Language proficiency and an extremely low chronic absenteeism rate were significant in that improvement.
Russellville Middle School maintained its ‘B’ grade of 86 with a 100 on academic growth and improvement on its academic achievement score.
RMS saw its scores in English Language proficiency and chronic absenteeism fall from 2023-24, which kept the overall grade from increasing from 86.
Russellville High School’s score of 82 was the lowest among the system’s four schools, but was a five-point improvement from 23-24.
Strong scores in graduation rate and college/career readiness accounted for the improvement, while failing scores in academic achievement and English Language proficiency kept RMS from an even higher grade.
For more information on state reports for all Alabama public schools, visit https://statereportcard.alsde.edu.