Excel High School, Excel AL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Excel High School

Excel High School, in the small rural town of Excel, is a single-building PK-12 public school in the Monroe County district. It serves as the only school in town, and its students, from prekindergarten through senior year, reflect the town’s character. With an enrollment that puts it at a moderate size for a combined-grade school, Excel High draws from a community that is primarily white, with a substantial Black student population and very small shares of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. Approximately two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need in the community.

Academic performance on Alabama’s state assessments tells a divided story. On the English language arts tests, the school posts results that land at a moderate level overall, with most elementary and middle-grade cohorts scoring above the midpoint. Fifth grade stands out, with a strong result that suggests that cohort had a solid year in reading and writing. Math performance, however, is markedly lower. In nearly every grade, the share of students meeting the state’s proficiency bar falls well short of the midpoint. The lower elementary grades hover at modest levels of proficiency, but the pattern worsens in the middle grades, particularly in sixth and seventh grade, where only a small minority of students meet the bar. Science results, tested in fourth and eighth grade, sit at a moderate level. Because the comparison set—districts in Monroe County—contains only one other district, there is no meaningful local benchmark to place these results against. Parents will want to look into how the school supports students who are struggling in math and whether there are intervention programs in place, especially in the middle-school years where the drop is most pronounced.

The school covers the full K-12 span, and as a regular public school it offers the standard Alabama diploma pathway. Specific program offerings, like Advanced Placement, career and technical education, or dual enrollment, were not reported in the available data. Because the school is small and rural, the breadth of such options may be narrower than what a larger high school could offer. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes—no curriculum shifts, no consolidation votes, no major facility projects—so the school appears to be operating on a steady footing with no immediate disruption on the horizon.

The town of Excel itself has a declining population, a trend that has been underway for some time, and the local economy is driven by manufacturing, educational services, and healthcare. The town is car-dependent, with a modest built environment along a state highway, and the nearest interstate is roughly twenty miles away. Housing market data was not available in this profile, but the population decline and rural setting would typically correlate with lower and more affordable home prices compared to urban or suburban areas. Families considering a move to Excel should expect a quiet, low-density setting with limited commercial amenities and a single school that anchors the community.

For a family, Excel High School fits a parent who wants their child in a single school from kindergarten through graduation, in a small-town environment where the school is central to daily life. The clear academic concern is math, where the school has a wide gap to close. A parent whose child needs strong math instruction or advanced math pathways should investigate what support the school offers. In reading and science, the school delivers results that are closer to ordinary, though a family with a strong academic focus may want to see what advanced course options exist for those subjects in the high school grades. The district itself does not appear to be in flux, which can be a quiet advantage for families seeking stability.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=95%Cohort of 72 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 336%

School 36% · District 31% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 24% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 30% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 23% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 716%

School 16% · District 8% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 16% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 67% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 43% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 62% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 48% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 44% · ▲ 10 pts above district

even with state median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 41% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Science

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 28% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 35% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median

This schoolMonroe 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 6Lower-income42%Higher-income77%34 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income12%Higher-income35%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income48%23 pp gap