The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Spencerwestlawn Elementary School
SpencerWestlawn Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the city of Mobile, Alabama. It is a regular public school within the Mobile County school system, and it is not a charter or magnet school. The school draws its enrollment from a neighborhood in the midtown portion of Mobile, a city that functions as a Gulf Coast port and regional economic hub with major employers in aerospace, shipbuilding, and healthcare.
The student body is overwhelmingly composed of Black or African American students, with very small shares of white students, multiracial students, and Hispanic students. Most families in the attendance zone qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that is very high compared to national averages. This economic concentration is a defining characteristic of the school’s community. The school enrolls a few hundred students across the elementary grades, with the largest numbers in kindergarten through third grade and somewhat smaller cohorts in pre-kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grades.
Academically, the picture is mixed. In the most recent state assessments, administered in the 2024–25 school year, English language arts proficiency rates varied by grade but fell in a range that was lower than many families would hope for, yet not the lowest among schools in the district. Math proficiency rates were lower than ELA across all tested grades. Science proficiency, tested only in fourth grade, was markedly lower than either math or ELA in that grade. When viewed as a whole across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index placed it above the midpoint among the county’s districts. Because the state changed assessments or scoring in recent years, no multi-year trend is available; the data shows only a single year of results, so a parent cannot yet see whether performance is improving or declining. This is a gap a family may want to ask the school about directly.
SpencerWestlawn is a neighborhood school in a large district, Mobile County, which has a number of other elementary schools. The district itself has not reported recent major changes or strategic shifts that would directly affect a family’s decision about this school. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school environment and access section provided no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing. Those are important soft spots; a parent considering SpencerWestlawn would benefit from speaking with current families or the principal about school climate and teacher stability, since neither is documented in the available public data.
The surrounding community of Mobile is a mid-size city with a historic downtown, a busy port, and a mix of older neighborhoods and newer suburban development. Housing values in the school’s zip code are lower than the state median, and rents are moderate relative to incomes, making the area more affordable than many parts of Alabama. The city underwent a large annexation a few years ago that increased its population, but the school’s immediate attendance zone has likely not seen rapid new growth. Walkability is limited to the downtown core; this part of Mobile is car-dependent.
For a family evaluating options, SpencerWestlawn offers a classic neighborhood elementary experience in a setting where most students come from low-income households. The school’s academic results are modest, and science performance in particular is an area where a parent would want to understand what supports are in place. The absence of publicly reported data on discipline, attendance, and special populations such as students with disabilities or English learners means that those important dimensions of school life remain opaque from the outside. A family would need to visit, talk to the school, and perhaps ask about class sizes and enrichment programs to fill in the picture. The school’s overall proficiency index is better than many of its county peers, but the raw rates show that a majority of students were not meeting the state’s proficiency bar in any tested subject. This is the central fact a family should weigh.
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