The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in English language arts. The lowest is 38% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cleburne County Elementary School
Cleburne County Elementary School serves children from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in Heflin, the seat of Cleburne County in eastern Alabama. The school is a regular public elementary school, not a charter or magnet, and it sits on a standalone campus rather than in the downtown core. The school is part of the Cleburne County district, which also includes another elementary school, a middle school, a high school, and a career technical school.
The student body is small for a combined PK-4 school and predominantly white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the records we reviewed, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports those populations.
State testing results for the 2024-25 school year show a mixed picture. In English language arts, a solid majority of third and fourth graders met proficiency standards. In math, a little more than half of third graders were proficient, while fourth graders were below that mark. In science, which is tested only in fourth grade, just over a third of students were proficient. These results represent a single year of data, so there is no trend line yet to indicate whether performance is improving or slipping. Because the school only goes through fourth grade, there is no high school graduation rate, nor are there advanced coursework or career pathway offerings that apply to this grade band.
Heflin itself is a small county-seat town situated roughly midway between Birmingham and Atlanta along Interstate 20. It is surrounded by the Talladega National Forest and has cultivated an outdoor-recreation identity as Alabama's Trail Town, with hiking, biking, canoeing, and disc golf among the available activities. The historic downtown, anchored by the courthouse on the National Register of Historic Places, includes a community arts center and a handful of local businesses. The town has seen slow but steady population growth in recent years, and it has pursued community-development designations such as Main Street Alabama and ACE (Communities of Excellence). Civic investments include a recently opened recreation center and the arts center. No large new housing subdivisions or major commercial developments were identified in available sources, so growth appears incremental.
The housing market in the area around the school is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, and home values have risen modestly in the past year. For a family considering a move, the town offers a rural, low-density setting where daily errands typically require a car. The school campus is separate from the downtown, and the district serves the broader county, not just Heflin residents.
No recent district-wide changes, such as boundary adjustments or new program launches, were found in publicly reported sources. That means the school environment is likely stable, but a parent may want to check with the district office for any upcoming shifts that could affect attendance zones or programming.
For a family weighing options, the school fits a family seeking a small, rural elementary setting where the student body is largely homogeneous and where English language arts proficiency is a relative strength. The math and science results are weaker, particularly in fourth grade, and that is something a parent may want to explore further with the school, especially if a child needs extra support in those subjects. The school feeds into Cleburne County Middle School and High School, so the academic foundation laid here will matter for the years ahead. Because the school serves only through fourth grade, the transition to fifth grade is a built-in juncture for families to reassess.
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