Spanish Fort Elementary School, Spanish Fort AL

Original Research by School Decision on Spanish Fort Elementary School

Spanish Fort Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and sits within the Baldwin County district on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is situated in a suburban city that has grown rapidly since its incorporation. Spanish Fort blends residential neighborhoods with large commercial centers such as the Eastern Shore Centre and Spanish Fort Town Center, though the city lacks a traditional walkable downtown. The area is car-dependent, with major routes like Interstate 10 and U.S. Routes 90 and 98 connecting the community to Mobile across the bay. The city has been recognized as a strong place for young families, and a substantial share of households have children under 18.

The school itself enrolls a sizable student body for an elementary campus, drawing from the surrounding residential development. The student population is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a moderate range for economic diversity in this part of Baldwin County. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

Academically, Spanish Fort Elementary posts strong results on Alabama’s state assessments. In English language arts, proficiency rates are high across every tested grade, with the combined schoolwide figure landing well above typical levels in the county and state. In math, performance is solid but more varied: early grades show a clear majority of students meeting proficiency, and the upper elementary and sixth-grade cohorts also post rates that are healthy, though not as uniformly high as the reading scores. Fourth-grade science results are also strong. Overall, when measured across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s combined proficiency index sits above the midpoint relative to other districts in Baldwin County. Because this is a single year of data, and the assessment regime appears to be newly reported, there is no trend line to show improvement or decline over time.

The school’s grade span ends at sixth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report, and measures like chronic absenteeism were also not available in the data. The building itself is one of three elementary schools serving the Spanish Fort area, and the district has invested in new facilities nearby, including Stonebridge Elementary School which opened in 2022. The broader Baldwin County district, according to publicly available information, has not had recent parent-relevant changes of lasting impact, though the county did approve a loan to fund additions at several schools.

In the housing market, home values in the Spanish Fort area are elevated relative to state and national benchmarks, and rents have been rising. The typical monthly cost to rent is lower than the estimated mortgage payment on a median-priced home, which may tilt some families toward renting, but the area is broadly a higher-cost market within Alabama.

For a family considering this school, the picture is of a suburban elementary that delivers consistently strong reading outcomes and solid math and science results, serving a predominantly white student body with moderate economic diversity. The community is growing, car-oriented, and amenity-rich in terms of shopping and recreation. The school itself fits a family seeking a standard public elementary with reliable academic performance in a city that has invested in its schools and infrastructure. A parent who wants to understand special education or English learner services will need to reach out to the school directly, as those numbers were not in the available data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 46% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 41% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 44% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 386%

School 86% · District 72% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 485%

School 85% · District 68% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 591%

School 91% · District 74% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 679%

School 79% · District 70% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 53% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolBaldwin County, 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

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income66%Higher-income86%20 pp gap