The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in English language arts. The lowest is 19% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Austinville Elementary School
Austinville Elementary School is a regular public school in Decatur, Alabama, serving children from prekindergarten through fifth grade. It operates under the Decatur City school district. The school’s enrollment is small for an elementary building, with classes across all elementary grades. A substantial share of students come from low-income households, as measured by free or reduced-price meal eligibility.
The student body is majority Hispanic, with the next largest groups being Black, White, and students identifying as two or more races; small numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian students are also enrolled. Data on the share of students with Individualized Education Programs or who are classified as English learners was not available in the source material.
Academically, the school participates in Alabama’s state testing program, which covers grades three through five in math and English language arts, and grade four in science. The school’s own results vary by grade and subject. In third grade, a majority of students met proficiency in ELA, while math proficiency was lower. In fourth grade, ELA proficiency remained above half, but math and especially science proficiency were weaker. Fifth-grade results showed about half proficient in ELA and math. Overall, across all tested subjects and grades, Austinville’s combined proficiency index ranks below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Morgan County. Because the school ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report.
The Decatur City district has no recent major changes publicly reported that would affect families choosing this school. The district brief turned up little that was concrete, so no specific recent developments are included here.
Decatur is a mid-sized river city situated on Wheeler Lake along the Tennessee River, straddling Morgan and Limestone counties. Its economy is heavily built on manufacturing, chemical production, cargo transit through a working river port, and high-tech firms such as United Launch Alliance, General Electric, and 3M. The city has a car-dependent, spread-out built environment, with a downtown core but no strong pedestrian infrastructure documented. The population has grown modestly over the past decade, and the city remains the second-largest in the Huntsville-Decatur combined statistical area, though it was eclipsed by Huntsville’s faster growth during the space race.
Housing in the area is modestly priced relative to national medians, with home values below the state average. Rents have risen somewhat, and the area remains more affordable than much of the country when compared with household income. The local unemployment rate has been stable at a moderate level.
Austinville Elementary is a neighborhood school serving a high-poverty student population in a mid-sized industrial city. Its academic performance on state tests is mixed: third-grade reading stands out as a relative strength, while math and science results, particularly in fourth grade, are weaker and may be an area a parent wants to look into further with the school. The school does not offer programs beyond its regular elementary curriculum, and no data on course access, staffing ratios, or disciplinary patterns were available. For families weighing this school, the key factors are the elementary-only grade span, the high level of economic need among students, and a proficiency profile that sits below the middle of other Morgan County districts on the state assessment.
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