The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 6% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Avenue Elementary School
Highland Avenue Elementary School sits in the heart of Montgomery, Alabama’s capital city, a mid-sized urban center that combines state government, Maxwell Air Force Base, higher education, and a significant high-tech manufacturing presence anchored by the Hyundai assembly plant. The school is part of the Montgomery County district and serves students from Pre-K through grade 5. The neighborhood around Highland Avenue is a settled residential corridor within the city’s footprint, where a family can walk to a neighborhood elementary school but will rely on a car for most other errands; walkability in Montgomery is largely concentrated in the revitalized downtown riverfront area, not in most surrounding residential blocks.
Enrollment at Highland Avenue is small for an elementary school serving this many grades, with a student body that is predominantly Black and Hispanic, and a very small share of white students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high concentration of economic need in the attendance zone. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not available in the source materials, a gap a parent may want to fill by asking the school directly.
State testing results from the Alabama ACAP assessments for the 2024-25 school year show proficiency rates that are below what families typically see across Montgomery County districts. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages the results across tested subjects and grades, places it in the bottom quartile among the county’s districts. In English language arts, the share of students meeting proficiency was notably higher in grade 5 than in the earlier grades, while grade 4 showed the strongest reading result of the elementary span. In mathematics, proficiency was very low across all three tested grades, and in grade 4 science, the rate was similarly low. This is a single-year snapshot, and the school has no multi-year trend data available to show whether these results represent a steady state, a decline, or a recovery from a prior disruption. A family considering Highland Avenue would want to look into this further with the school and ask what academic supports and interventions are in place, particularly in math, and whether the school has seen any recent shifts in curriculum or instruction.
Because Highland Avenue serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The data show no chronic absenteeism rate either, and that information may not have been collected or reported in the available civil rights data.
The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is part of a district that is the sole public school system for the city of Montgomery and its surrounding county. The district leadership did not have any parent-relevant changes disclosed in recent public records that could be confirmed, so this narrative cannot speak to any recent strategic initiatives, boundary adjustments, or program shifts at the system level. Housing in the school’s ZIP code is inexpensive relative to state and national benchmarks, and rents have been rising. For a family buying a home, the estimated monthly mortgage payment and typical rent sit close enough that a renter paying the median rent would have a rent bill similar to a homeowner’s mortgage payment at current interest rates.
Montgomery itself is a place with a strong civic and cultural identity: the Alabama River riverfront, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and the state capitol complex are all within a short drive. The city’s economy draws on government, the military base, and automotive manufacturing, which provides a relatively stable employment base. Families who already live in this part of Montgomery will find Highland Avenue to be a neighborhood school that is deeply familiar to the community it serves. Families with the ability to choose a school elsewhere in the district, or who are moving to the area and weighing options, will want to compare the academic profile and student-support context here with other elementaries in Montgomery County, particularly if they are seeking a school where state test results are a stronger indicator.
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