Life Academy at Historic St Jude Educational Institute, Montgomery AL

Original Research by School Decision on Life Academy at Historic St Jude Educational Institute

LIFE Academy at Historic St. Jude Educational Institute is a public charter school in Montgomery, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. It opened in 2021 on the campus of the former St. Jude school, a site with deep local history. The school offers free transportation, uniforms, meals, and after-school care, and it has expanded each year since its founding. For families looking for a tuition-free option with wraparound supports, it represents a relatively new choice within the city.

Academic results from the most recent state assessments place this school in a challenging position. In math, the share of students meeting state standards is very low across every tested grade, and in science only a small fraction of fourth graders reached proficiency. English language arts results are stronger but uneven: about half of fifth graders were proficient, while third, fourth, sixth, and seventh graders were in the range of about a quarter to a third. The school’s overall proficiency index—an average across all subjects and grades tested—falls below the midpoint when compared with other school systems in Montgomery County. There is no multi-year trend data yet because the school is new, so parents will want to watch how these numbers evolve in coming years. The school does not serve high school grades, so no graduation rate is reported.

The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with small numbers of students who are Asian, Hispanic, white, or multiracial. Just over half of students come from families with income low enough to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The school’s charter status means it operates with some autonomy from the local district, and it is part of the LIFE Academy district, a single-school district. Information on special education and English learner populations was not available in the data.

Montgomery is a mid-sized state capital with major employers including state government, Maxwell Air Force Base, Hyundai’s manufacturing plant, and several universities. The downtown area has seen revitalization, including riverfront development and new urbanist projects, but the broader city remains car-dependent. Home values in the neighborhood around the school are well below national and state averages, reflecting the area’s affordability. That housing context is relevant for families considering where to live while their child attends this school.

For a parent evaluating LIFE Academy, the central facts are these: it is a young charter school with full support services, set on a historic campus in a capital city where housing is relatively inexpensive. Its academic results are low overall, especially in math and science, with some brighter spots in reading in the middle elementary grades. A parent may want to discuss directly with the school how it plans to raise proficiency rates and what academic interventions are in place. The school fits families who prioritize a tuition-free, wrap-around program in a predominantly Black environment and who are comfortable with a setting where state test scores are still well below many other options in the county.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 312%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 15%

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

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 64%

School 4% · District 4%

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

Grade 75%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 32%

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

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

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

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 31 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

This schoolLIFE 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 5Lower-income4%Higher-income0%4 pp gap