Wellborn Elementary School, Anniston AL

Original Research by School Decision on Wellborn Elementary School

Wellborn Elementary School is a regular public school in Anniston serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It is part of the Calhoun County school district. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Black students, a modest Hispanic enrollment, and very small numbers from other racial groups. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a high-poverty context.

On the state’s ACAP assessments for the 2024–25 school year, reading and language arts results were mixed. In third grade roughly half of students scored proficient, and that share rose slightly through fifth and sixth grade, where it approached three-fifths. Math results were weaker overall, with proficiency declining at each successive grade level. In third grade about three in ten students met the bar; by sixth grade it was roughly one in eight. Fourth-grade science proficiency stood at about a quarter. Because the school does not serve high school grades, no graduation rate is reported. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages all tested subjects and grades, placed it in the bottom quarter among the five districts in Calhoun County. Only a single year of data was available, so no trend direction can be described.

School environment and access data were limited. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance was not provided. The school’s Title I status and magnet status were also absent from the available records. Parents seeking details on student supports or enrichment offerings may need to contact the school directly.

Anniston, where the school is located, is the county seat of Calhoun County and a regional hub for government and commerce in northeast Alabama. The city has a mix of industrial history, downtown civic buildings, and residential neighborhoods spread across the foothills of the Appalachians. The Anniston Army Depot and the Center for Domestic Preparedness on the former Fort McClellan property are major employers. Anniston is described as one of the most affordable places to live in the country, and housing values in the area are well below state and national averages. The city adopted a comprehensive plan in 2022 and is a designated Main Street Alabama community, signaling ongoing revitalization efforts. The population has declined from a mid-twentieth-century peak, but the area remains a service center for the surrounding region.

The Calhoun County district itself did not show any publicly reported recent changes of note, so no major district-level developments are available to describe.

For a family considering Wellborn Elementary, the picture is one of a high-poverty school with reading performance that reaches roughly half or more of students but math performance that is low and falls off sharply in upper grades. The school’s index places it well below the middle of the county’s districts. The surrounding community is affordable, with a modest downtown and industrial anchors. Families evaluating this school would benefit from asking directly about support for math instruction, interventions for struggling students, and any enrichment or early learning programs that are not captured in the testing data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 41% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 35% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 27% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 31% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 67% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 62% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 69% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 59% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 47% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

This schoolCalhoun 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.