The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Charles a Brown Elementary School
Charles A Brown Elementary School serves students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the Birmingham City Schools district, located in a residential area of the city. It is a regular public neighborhood school, and its enrollment is modest for the grade range it covers. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a small Hispanic share, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high-poverty school setting.
Academically, state assessment results from the most recent testing year paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, roughly half of students scored at the proficient level or above, with results improving somewhat in the upper elementary grades. In mathematics, proficiency was very low across all tested grades. Science results, available only for fourth grade, were also low. When combining all tested subjects and grades into a single proficiency index, the school sits above the midpoint among districts in Jefferson County, meaning its overall performance is stronger than many of its county peers, though that comparison is drawn from a set that includes many school districts, not individual schools. The proficiency index itself is low in absolute terms; the school’s position above the midpoint reflects a cohort where the median is also quite low.
Because Charles A Brown serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing were not available in the records provided, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns and student support resources. Information on special education identification and English learner enrollment was also missing.
The housing context in the zip code that includes the school shows home prices well below state and national benchmarks, and rents that are moderate relative to household income. This is consistent with the broader Birmingham housing market, where the city has experienced a gradual population decline and faces economic challenges including suburban competition. Birmingham itself is a mid-sized city that functions as a major regional hub for healthcare, banking, and education. Major employers include the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s medical complex, Regions Financial, and Vulcan Materials. The city retains civic anchors such as Railroad Park, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, and the historic 16th Street Baptist Church.
The Birmingham City district has been undergoing significant change. A consolidation plan approved in 2023 is merging several schools and repurposing buildings in response to declining enrollment and aging infrastructure; while Charles A Brown Elementary was not named directly in the data, the district-wide plan affects how families navigate school assignments and facility quality. The district also opened a new Career Tech Academy in 2023, though that program serves high school students and does not directly affect elementary offerings. The Alabama Literacy Act’s third-grade retention requirement is in effect, and the district has responded with reading coaches and intervention programs aligned to the science of reading; given the moderate ELA proficiency at Brown, families with children approaching third grade will want to understand how the school supports literacy and what the retention implications are.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a typical urban elementary serving a high-poverty community, with significant academic challenges in math and science alongside a somewhat stronger but still modest showing in reading. The school’s peer-group standing among Jefferson County districts offers some relative strength, but the absolute performance levels warrant careful inquiry into classroom instruction, intervention programs, and the specific support available for students who are struggling. The district’s literacy initiatives may be a relevant factor. The school is small enough that individual attention may be possible, though data on staffing ratios was not available to confirm that.
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