Phillips Academy, Birmingham AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a regular public school in Birmingham, Alabama, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits within the Birmingham City school district. A parent or resident considering this school will find a campus that serves a predominantly African American student body and draws from a community that is a major regional economic and medical hub, yet one where the city itself has experienced a gradual population decline.

The student body is overwhelmingly African American. A substantial majority of the students come from households with low enough incomes to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The school's enrollment is large enough to fill ten grade levels, with the middle school grades appearing somewhat bigger than the elementary ones. Data on the share of students with disabilities or who are English learners was not available.

Academically, this school presents a mixed profile that shifts noticeably by grade and subject. In math, the share of students meeting state proficiency standards varies widely from one grade to the next. Proficiency rates rise significantly from the lower elementary grades through sixth grade, dip in seventh grade, and drop again in eighth grade. In English language arts, the school's performance is generally stronger. Across most tested grades, a clear majority of students met state proficiency standards, with a particularly high share meeting them in sixth and seventh grades. Science is a soft spot. The rate of proficiency in fourth-grade science was low, and while eighth-grade science was much higher, it still left a meaningful portion of students below the proficiency bar. When comparing the school's overall proficiency across subjects and grades against other districts in Jefferson County, Phillips Academy sits above the midpoint. There is only one year of assessment data available, so no trend is visible.

The school is part of the Birmingham City district, which is itself in a period of visible change. The district is consolidating schools and repurposing buildings as part of a plan to address declining enrollment and aging facilities. At the same time, it opened a new career-focused academy for high school students. The state's literacy law, which requires third graders who do not meet reading standards to be retained, took effect recently and has prompted the district to invest in reading coaches and new intervention programs. A parent with a child at Phillips Academy may want to ask the school directly how these district-level shifts, especially the consolidation plan and the literacy law, are affecting the school's staffing, programs, or any potential changes to attendance boundaries.

The setting is Birmingham itself. The city is a mix of historic neighborhoods, a downtown core with mid-rise buildings, and car-dependent suburban-style development. Major employers include banking, healthcare, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Housing values in the area around the school are roughly in line with national norms, while rents are somewhat lower. Birmingham is no longer the state's largest city by population, but its metropolitan area remains the largest in Alabama.

For a parent trying to decide whether Phillips Academy fits, the picture is one of a large elementary-to-middle school where English language arts is a clear area of strength in most grades, math shows more variation, and science proficiency needs attention. The student body is economically diverse with high need. The school's position relative to other Jefferson County districts is above the midpoint, but that comparison is against districts, not individual schools, and the city district is undergoing reorganization that may affect many aspects of its operations. There is no graduation rate to consider because the school ends at eighth grade.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 27% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 20% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 22% · ▲ 55 pts above district

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 51 pts above county median

Grade 683%

School 83% · District 13% · ▲ 70 pts above district

▲ 54 pts above state median · ▲ 74 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 9% · ▲ 52 pts above district

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 55 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 7% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 49% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 40% · ▲ 19 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 45% · ▲ 36 pts above district

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

Grade 688%

School 88% · District 34% · ▲ 53 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 792%

School 92% · District 35% · ▲ 57 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 53 pts above county median

Grade 879%

School 79% · District 33% · ▲ 46 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 15%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 16% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above 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

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income88%Higher-income87%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income80%Higher-income79%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income48%Higher-income50%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income73%Higher-income92%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income71%Higher-income48%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income58%15 pp gap