Lead Academy Building B, Montgomery AL

Original Research by School Decision on Lead Academy Building B

LEAD Academy Building B is a charter school in Montgomery serving grades four through eight. It is one of the two buildings that make up the LEAD Academy district, a charter network in the city. The school is located on Eastern Boulevard, in a commercial corridor of Alabama’s capital city.

Montgomery is a mid-sized state capital whose economy rests on state government, Maxwell Air Force Base, higher education, and the Hyundai manufacturing plant. Downtown has seen revitalization and new urbanism projects along the Alabama River, but the broader city remains largely car-dependent. The school sits away from the downtown core, in an area shaped by strip development and major roads.

LEAD Academy Building B has an enrollment of about four hundred students for a middle-school grade band. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Black. The school is a regular public charter school; no magnet or Title I designation was reported.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year are available for ELA, math, and science across grades four through eight. In ELA, proficiency rates were in the mid-thirties to low fifties across grades. The strongest result was in eighth grade, where a little more than half of students scored proficient. Seventh grade also came in near that range. Fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were lower. Math results were extremely low across every grade. Fourth and eighth grades were below ten percent proficient; fifth and seventh grades were lower, and sixth grade recorded a zero percent proficiency rate. Science results were low as well. Fourth-grade science proficiency was in the mid-teens; eighth-grade science was in the low twenties.

When compared with other districts in Montgomery County, LEAD Academy Building B’s overall proficiency index fell below the midpoint of the five districts measured. The comparison set includes the other school systems operating within the county. The school’s index was near the bottom of that range but above the very lowest.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, no graduation rate is reported, and a parent looking for that measure should look to the high school options in the district. The school website and district materials were searched for recent changes or developments that would affect parents, but no specific four-year changes with lasting parent impact were found.

The academic picture points to a school where students are weak in math and science but show more moderate strength in reading. A parent considering this school would want to investigate how the school addresses math instruction and whether the curriculum or interventions are shifting those numbers. The school’s charter status means it operates with some flexibility from state regulations, and the district appears to be a small charter network focused on this age band. For a family weighing options in Montgomery, the school’s peer environment is one of very high economic need and a predominantly Black student body, which may be a match for families seeking a school that reflects that community. The housing context is the Montgomery metro area, where home prices are below state and national medians and rents have risen in recent years.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 49%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 72%

School 2% · District 2%

▼ 14 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 23 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Science

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolLEAD Academy, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income0%Higher-income0%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income3%Higher-income0%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income0%11 pp gap