Sylvania School, Sylvania AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sylvania School

Sylvania School is a single K-12 public school that serves the small, rural town of Sylvania, which sits atop Sand Mountain in DeKalb County. The school is part of the DeKalb County School System and has been operating since the early 1900s. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school. For a family considering this school, the most important thing to understand is that it offers the full kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade pathway in one building, which means students spend their entire academic career in the same community-focused setting. The student body is diverse for a rural area, with a white majority and notable shares of Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native students.

Academically, the picture is mixed and shows a clear pattern across grade levels. In English language arts, the school shows a relative strength in the elementary grades, where proficiency rates are generally higher. The middle school years see a drop-off, with rates that are lower. In mathematics, the pattern is more challenging across the board, with proficiency rates that are relatively low at every tested grade level, from elementary through middle school. In science, the fourth-grade result is stronger than the eighth-grade result. The school's overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in DeKalb County. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around how the school supports students as they move from elementary into middle school in math and English.

Because the school serves pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, state testing data is available for grades three through eight. High school testing results were not included in the data provided, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about upper-grade academic performance and college readiness measures like the ACT. The graduation rate was also not available in the data, which is a significant gap; it is not clear whether this data was unreported or simply not captured. A parent considering high school here should seek out that information from the district.

A large share of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families face economic challenges. This context is important for understanding the school's overall performance, as schools serving higher-poverty populations often have different resource needs and outcomes. The student body size is modest for a K-12 school, and the grade-by-grade enrollment is fairly steady through the upper elementary and middle grades, with a slight uptick in the high school years.

The town of Sylvania itself is quiet and rural. It was historically a small commercial center, but highway bypasses over the decades diverted traffic away from its downtown, and local businesses have struggled as a result. Most residents commute to jobs elsewhere in DeKalb County or nearby areas, with manufacturing being the largest employment sector. There is no public transit, and walkability is very limited; the built environment is low-density residential with scattered commercial uses along State Highway 75. The school appears to sit within the small town center alongside civic buildings. The town park and DeKalb County Public Fishing Lake are the main public gathering spaces.

Housing in the Sylvania area is notably more affordable than the state and national averages. For a family moving to the area, the cost of buying a home is relatively low compared to many parts of Alabama and the country. Rents were not available in the data, but the affordable home prices are a clear draw for families seeking a lower cost of living in a rural setting.

No recent district-level changes--such as budget shifts, curriculum updates, or construction projects--were found in the available research. The DeKalb County district appears to have been stable in terms of parent-relevant news, though a parent should always check with the district office for any upcoming changes.

Sylvania School is best suited for a family that values a single, community-anchored K-12 experience in a rural, low-cost setting. The academic data shows clear soft spots in math and middle school performance that a prospective parent should investigate directly. The high school's graduation rate and college readiness offerings remain unaddressed by the available data. For a family comfortable asking those questions and looking for a small-town school where a child can grow up with the same peer group from kindergarten through graduation, this school provides that pathway.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

85-89%Cohort of 81 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

373 schools plotted. 7 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 46% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 36% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 38% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 34% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 16% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 15% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 61% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 65% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 50% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 49% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 449%

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

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 33% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

This schoolDeKalb 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.