Alabama students statewide posted modest year-over-year gains in English language arts and math, but dozens of individual schools saw much larger increases.
Alabama Daily News analyzed school-level results from the 2024-25 and 2025-26 Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program and found 78 schools where ELA proficiency increased by at least 10 percentage points and 77 where math proficiency increased by at least 10 points.
Those gains were larger than the statewide changes. Across Alabama, 57.1% of students tested proficient in ELA in 2025–26, up from 56.2% a year earlier. In math, 34.3% tested proficient, up from 33.4%.
At the school level, some of the year-over-year increases were considerably larger.
A searchable table showing 2025-26 ELA and math proficiency rates, year-over-year changes and school poverty levels is at the bottom of this story.
Larger increases
The larger increases were scattered across the state: Berry High School in Fayette County increased ELA proficiency from 29.2% last year to 55.1% this year, a gain of 25.9 points. Saint Clair County High School increased 25.5 points, while Cullman High School gained 25.4 points and Rehobeth High School gained 25 points.
In math, Geneva High School increased from 27.5% proficient to 54.9%, a gain of 27.4 points. Linden High School rose from 3% to 29.4%, while Chatom Elementary School in Washington County increased from 33.3% to 56.7%.
The school-level results also show differences in performance among the more than 300 schools where at least 75% of students are economically disadvantaged.
Nineteen of those high-poverty schools scored above the statewide proficiency rate in both ELA and math:
- Athens Elementary School – Athens City
- Greenville Elementary School – Butler County
- Grove Hill Elementary School – Clarke County
- Harrand Creek Elementary School – Enterprise City
- Huxford Elementary School – Escambia County
- Harlan Elementary School – Florence City
- Weeden Elementary School – Florence City
- Donehoo Elementary School – Gadsden City
- Webb Elementary School – Houston County
- Saint Elmo Elementary School – Mobile County
- West Morgan Elementary School – Morgan County
- Harry N Mixon Intermediate School – Ozark City
- Westview Elementary School – Phenix City
- Pike County Elementary School – Pike County
- Montevallo Elementary School – Shelby County
- AH Watwood Elementary School – Talladega County
- Childersburg Elementary School – Talladega County
- Stemley Road Elementary School – Talladega County
- University Place Elementary School – Tuscaloosa City
Another 30 schools with poverty rates of at least 75% improved by at least 10 points in one or both subjects.
Among them, D.C. Wolfe School in Macon County increased ELA proficiency from 35.5% to 58%. Westview Elementary School in Phenix City posted double-digit gains in both subjects.
School-level results do not necessarily reflect the same students from one year to the next. Students move between schools and districts, enter or leave the public school system and move into or out of tested grades. Changes can also appear larger at smaller schools, where fewer students are tested.
The state’s ACAP program includes several assessments. Students in grades three through eight take the ACAP Summative in ELA and math each spring, while 11th graders are tested in those subjects through the ACT.
Science is tested in grades four, six, eight and 11, and some students with significant cognitive disabilities take the ACAP Alternate.
ADN did not include science in the year-over-year school analysis because the state changed science proficiency cut scores for 2025–26, making this year’s results not directly comparable with 2024–25 test results.
The table here shows 2025-26 ELA and math proficiency rates, changes from 2024-25 and school poverty levels. Changes are shown in percentage points.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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