South Smiths Station Elementary School, Smiths Station AL

Original Research by School Decision on South Smiths Station Elementary School

South Smiths Station Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the unincorporated community of Smiths Station, a residential bedroom community southeast of Opelika and Phenix City. The school is part of Lee County Schools, the district that covers this fast-growing area near the Georgia line. Smiths Station was incorporated relatively recently and is still shaping its civic identity, with a government center campus and a history museum as anchors. The built environment is car-dependent, and the community is recovering from a major tornado that struck several years ago, an event that accelerated rebuilding and enrollment growth.

The student body reflects the broader region: a majority of students are White, with substantial Black and Hispanic populations and a small share of multiracial students. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that many families in the area work in service or trade jobs rather than professional fields. The school is a regular public elementary; no magnet or charter status applies. No data on special education or English learner populations was available in the provided records.

On state assessments administered in the most recent testing cycle, South Smiths Station shows a clear split between English language arts and math performance. In ELA, across third through sixth grade, a strong majority of students met proficiency standards, with the highest rates in third grade and consistent strength through sixth. That is a genuine academic strength for an elementary school. In math, performance is more uneven. Third and fourth graders scored around the midpoint or somewhat above, but fifth and sixth graders showed lower proficiency rates. Science testing, which is given only in fourth grade, produced results that landed above the halfway mark. When the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades is compared with other districts in Lee County, it sits above the midpoint of the three-district cohort. That is a solid position, though the comparison set is small.

The school’s enrollment has been growing, consistent with district-wide trends. The Lee County school board formed a committee to study capacity at Smiths Station High School, the district’s largest high school, because of sustained enrollment pressure in this part of the county near Fort Moore. That committee was expected to deliver recommendations by late 2024 or early 2025 on whether to expand the existing high school or build a new one. Those decisions could eventually affect elementary feeder patterns and property tax rates, so families moving into the area may want to track the outcome.

Because the school serves only elementary and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism or discipline data was available in this profile. Program offerings, such as gifted, arts, or extracurriculars, were not included in the provided data. Parents interested in those details would need to contact the school directly.

South Smiths Station Elementary fits a family looking for a neighborhood school in a suburban-style, car-dependent community that is part of a growing district. The academic picture is strongest in reading and English, while math recovery in the upper grades is an area a parent may want to investigate further with the school. The student body is economically diverse, and the community is still developing its institutional fabric. The district is actively planning for more enrollment, so the school environment may see changes in the coming years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 48% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 46% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 73% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 67% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 579%

School 79% · District 68% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 63% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 48% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

This schoolLee 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income88%31 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income81%Higher-income78%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income71%Higher-income83%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income55%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income43%Higher-income69%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income40%4 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income40%6 pp gap