Fairhope East Elementary, Fairhope AL

Original Research by School Decision on Fairhope East Elementary

Fairhope East Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school in the Baldwin County system. It is one of two elementary schools on the east side of Fairhope, a city that has grown steadily and now functions as an affluent suburb of Mobile. The downtown sits on a bluff above Mobile Bay with a long pier, parks, boutiques, and restaurants, while residential areas stretch inland. Housing values in the zip code are well above the state benchmark, and rents have been rising, which reflects the area’s desirability and the broader pattern of growth along the Gulf Coast. The school itself sits on a separate campus from the downtown core, as is typical for the district’s schools.

The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population as the next largest group, followed by smaller shares of students who are Black, Asian, or of two or more races. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is relatively moderate for a public elementary school in this region. The school does not appear to have reported data on students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent who wants that information would need to ask the school directly.

Academically, Fairhope East performs at a level that is above the midpoint among districts in Baldwin County on an overall proficiency index that averages results across tested subjects and grades. Reading scores are a clear strength. Across the tested grade levels, the large majority of students are meeting state standards in English language arts, with results that hold steady from third through sixth grade. In math, the picture is more mixed. Third and fourth graders show strong proficiency, but the share of students meeting the bar drops notably in fifth grade and recovers only partially by sixth grade. A parent might want to ask the school how math instruction and support are structured as students move into the upper elementary grades, especially heading into fifth. Science is tested only in fourth grade, and the results there are solid, in line with the school’s stronger math scores for that grade.

Because the school serves only grades K through six, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not produce the kind of high school outcome data that families of older students rely on. Chronic absenteeism figures were also not available. The school operates as a regular public school and is not a charter or magnet. There is no Title I status in the data, and the school’s staffing and discipline numbers were not provided.

Fairhope East sits within a county district that, based on the research available, has not recently undergone major parent-relevant changes such as boundary overhauls or program consolidations. The district brief turned up no lasting shifts to flag. The school itself appears to be a stable neighborhood elementary serving a community that has been adding population for decades, with housing demand that keeps the area expensive relative to the state. For a family looking at Fairhope East, the academic picture is one of strong literacy and a math program that performs well in the early grades but has a known soft spot in the upper elementary transition. The school’s demographic profile and the surrounding housing market suggest it serves a largely affluent, mostly white population with a significant minority of lower-income families. A parent considering this school should also be aware that the district assignment for high school may not be straightforward; publicly available information indicates that a portion of Fairhope’s high-school-age students attend Daphne High School to the north, meaning that the feeder pattern beyond elementary is worth confirming directly with the district.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 49% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 46% · ▲ 31 pts above district

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 41% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 44% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 387%

School 87% · District 72% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 68% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 74% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 685%

School 85% · District 70% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 53% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 25 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 5Lower-income58%Higher-income90%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income74%Higher-income89%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income54%Higher-income83%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income49%Higher-income60%12 pp gap