Alabama’s latest school-level reading results show a familiar pattern: third-graders in high-poverty schools were less likely to meet the state benchmark this spring, but some of those schools still posted some of the strongest results in the state.
The results, released by the Alabama State Department of Education, offer a more detailed look at how third-graders performed on the spring reading test tied to the Alabama Literacy Act.
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At the school level, the statewide rate — 88.2% of third graders reached the cut score- masks wide differences not only between individual schools, but between groups of schools with different poverty rates. The share of third-graders reaching the benchmark barely changed from 2025 to 2026 within each school poverty band, but students in high-poverty schools continued to have more difficulty reaching the mark.
Put another way, among schools where fewer than 20% of students are economically disadvantaged, about 2% of third-graders scored below the benchmark. Among schools where 80% to 100% of students are economically disadvantaged, about 22% scored below benchmark.
But not all high-poverty schools have struggling students: Several had 95% or more of third-graders reach the benchmark, and at some schools, every third-grader met the mark.
Among high-poverty schools with standout results:
— ABC Elementary in Wilcox County — 100% of third-graders reach the benchmark, 98% poverty rate
— Marengo High School in Marengo County — 100% reached the benchmark, 90% poverty rate
— Georgiana School in Butler County, 100% reached the benchmark, 87% poverty rate
— Pike County Elementary, 98% reached the benchmark, 87% poverty rate
— South Hampton K-8 in Birmingham City, 98% reached the benchmark, 85% poverty rate
— Spencer-Westlawn Elementary in Mobile County, 97% reached the benchmark, 94% poverty rate
Among the 690 Alabama schools that tested 10 or more third-grade students, in 34 schools, every third-grader reached or exceeded the cut score. Another 147 schools saw 95% to 99% of third-graders succeed on the test. And still another 159 schools had 90% to 95% of their third-graders reach or exceed the cut score. At the other end of the scale, 39 schools had fewer than 70% of third-graders reading sufficiently.
‘Bright spot’
There is a bright spot when it comes to comparing second-grade reading results from 2024-25 with third-grade results from 2025-26.
Across every poverty band, a higher share of third-graders reached the reading cut score this year than second-graders did the year before.
The largest percentage-point gain from second to third grade was in the highest-poverty schools: Among schools where 80% to 100% of students are economically disadvantaged, 78% of third-graders reached the cut score in 2025-26, compared with 67% of second-graders in that poverty band in 2024-25 — an 11-percentage point gain.
Third graders who didn’t meet the benchmark on the spring reading test were invited to summer reading camps, which are already underway.
Struggling readers are not required to attend the camps, even though districts are required to offer them. Districts are also required to make sure summer reading instruction is provided by teachers with strong reading instruction skills.
Students who fall short can still be promoted if they pass a retest, demonstrate grade-level reading through a portfolio or qualify for a good-cause exemption.
How did your school’s third graders do?
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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