Hollywood Elementary School, Hollywood AL

Original Research by School Decision on Hollywood Elementary School

Hollywood Elementary School is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the small, rural town of Hollywood in central Jackson County, northeast Alabama. The town began as a railroad station and its workforce is heavily concentrated in manufacturing, with additional employment in education, healthcare, transportation, and retail. The school is part of the Jackson County school system, and it sits within a community where the significant recent development topic is the abandoned Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station, sold for potential redevelopment, though no major new housing developments were identified in available sources. Jackson County Schools has also undertaken a multi-year consolidation effort, closing several small community schools and redrawing attendance zones, a structural change that alters school options and commute times for families.

The school serves a small student body across its elementary and middle grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student population is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and two or more races. Asian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students represent very small slices of the enrollment.

With state standardized testing data available for the most recent school year, the overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places Hollywood Elementary in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Jackson County. The county comparison set includes only a small number of districts, so this positioning is within a narrow field. In English language arts, results varied sharply by grade. Third grade showed a strong proficiency rate, and sixth grade was also solid. Fourth, fifth, and seventh grades were more moderate. Math results were much lower across the board. Third and sixth grades were the relative bright spots, but the rest of the tested grades showed low proficiency rates, and one grade had no students reaching the proficiency threshold. Science results were thin for the available grade. Eighth-grade results in all subjects were suppressed due to small group sizes, a common data-protection practice when few students are tested, so a complete picture for that grade is not available. A parent enrolling an older middle-schooler may want to ask the school for more detail on eighth-grade performance and instruction.

Because Hollywood Elementary does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is too small a setting to offer the breadth of advanced courses or career pathways that a larger high school might. The consolidated district context means families should be aware that attendance zones have been redrawn, and that for high school, their child would move to a different school within Jackson County. The district’s consolidation may have shifted which that high school is depending on where the family lives.

The town itself offers minimal walkability, with a low-density, auto-oriented built environment and a small downtown storefront area. Housing values in the area are below both the state and national benchmarks, and home values have seen a slight dip recently. The area has a high homeownership rate. Lake Guntersville and the Tennessee River provide nearby recreation opportunities. For a family seeking a very small, community-anchored school in a rural setting, Hollywood Elementary fits that profile. The academic challenge, particularly in math and inconsistently across grades in reading, is a softer area a parent would want to investigate further by speaking directly with school staff about instruction and support.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 47% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 43% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 40% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 42% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 72%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 63% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 72% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 9 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 63% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 42% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

This schoolJackson 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.