South Hampton K8, Birmingham AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on South Hampton K8

South Hampton K8 is a regular public school in Birmingham, Alabama, serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It sits within the Birmingham City district, one of the state’s largest urban systems, and draws from the city’s western Pratt City neighborhood. The school is a single-campus, non-charter, non-magnet school that covers the full run of elementary and middle grades under one roof.

The academic profile of South Hampton K8 shows a pattern that parents should examine closely. On the state’s annual ACAP assessments for the most recent school year, third graders performed quite well in both English language arts and math, with a strong share meeting proficiency in reading and a solid majority doing so in math. By fourth grade, those numbers dropped, and they continued to fall through the upper grades. In sixth grade, about half of students were proficient in ELA, but math proficiency was much lower. By seventh and eighth grade, math proficiency was very low, and ELA proficiency also sat well below half. Science results for fourth and eighth grade followed a similar decline. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades placed South Hampton K8 above the midpoint among the districts in Jefferson County when compared as a group. But the gap between the early grades and the middle grades is wide, and a family considering this school for a child entering upper elementary or middle school would want to ask the school about its instructional approach and interventions for older students.

The student body is broadly diverse in terms of socioeconomic background. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, above the national average. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly Black, with a smaller Hispanic population and very few white students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so those dimensions of the school’s support system are not described here. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

Birmingham is a mid-sized city that functions as a major regional hub for medicine, finance, and higher education, anchored by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and several Fortune 500 company headquarters. The city has seen population decline in recent years, and the Birmingham City district is undergoing a school consolidation plan approved in 2023, driven by falling enrollment and aging infrastructure. That plan directly affects which schools children attend and the condition of facilities. The district also opened a new Career Tech Academy in 2023 for high school students, but South Hampton K8, as a PK-8 school, does not directly offer those career pathways. The Alabama Literacy Act’s third-grade retention provision now requires students who do not meet reading benchmarks to repeat third grade; Birmingham City Schools have added reading coaches and intervention programs in response.

Housing in the zip code that includes South Hampton K8 is relatively affordable compared to national and state benchmarks. Home values and rents are below the state median, and the cost of owning a home is lower than renting on a monthly basis. The area is car-dependent, and walkability varies by neighborhood, but downtown Birmingham offers a denser, pedestrian-oriented core.

For a family, South Hampton K8 offers a neighborhood school with a strong start in the early grades and a clear challenge in the middle years. The overall proficiency is better than many of the county’s districts taken together, but the decline as students move up is pronounced and calls for a closer look at the school’s curriculum, teacher retention, and support systems for older children. The district’s consolidation and shifting enrollment add an element of change that could affect school assignments or building conditions in the near future. This is a school where the early record is encouraging and the middle-grade data invites questions.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 27% · ▲ 42 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 20% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 22% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 13% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 75%

School 5% · District 9% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 7% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 49% · ▲ 32 pts above district

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

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 40% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 45% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 34% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 35% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 33% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 15% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 16% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

This schoolBirmingham City, 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 7Lower-income6%Higher-income0%6 pp gap