The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in English language arts. The lowest is 58% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Coosa Valley Elementary School
Coosa Valley Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fourth grade and is part of the Pell City school district. The school is located on Martin Street in Cropwell, an unincorporated community and neighborhood of Pell City situated along Logan Martin Lake and the Coosa River. Cropwell is a car-dependent, mainly residential area where housing ranges from luxury waterfront estates to ranches, manufactured homes, and farmhouses on acreage, with some newer construction. Most grocery shopping and major retail needs are met a short drive away in Pell City, which has a Publix, Walmart, and Home Depot. Civic life centers on the lake and the local historical park rather than a traditional downtown. The community has experienced modest growth and has an older, established population.
Coosa Valley’s enrollment is small for an elementary school serving these grades, and the student body is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of Black students and an even smaller share of Hispanic students. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that falls within a typical range for a public school in this area. Data on the share of students with individualized education programs or English learner status was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the services and supports available for those populations.
The school’s academic profile rests on a single year of state assessment results from the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program. In English language arts, the school performed at a strong level, with proficient rates on the high end. Reading this alongside the Alabama Literacy Act, which requires third graders to demonstrate reading proficiency on this same state test to be promoted to fourth grade, the results suggest that a substantial majority of Coosa Valley’s third graders were meeting that benchmark. In mathematics, the school’s proficiency rates were moderate. In science, which is tested in fourth grade, the rate was also moderate. The multi-year academic trends data shows only one year of results, so there is no available picture of improvement or decline over time. The school’s overall proficiency index places it notably above the midpoint among the small number of districts in St. Clair County. This is a meaningful signal given that the comparison set includes two districts, but the range is narrow, which limits the strength of that positioning.
Because Coosa Valley only serves through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate to report and no data on college readiness indicators such as AP or dual enrollment. The school does not offer a high school program, so those metrics simply do not apply. Families should expect that their child will transition to another school in the Pell City district for upper elementary and beyond.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. Information about Title I status, staffing ratios, discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, and course access was not available in the data provided. A parent may want to inquire about class sizes, teacher experience, and what enrichment programs the school offers beyond the core subjects.
Coosa Valley Elementary fits a family looking for a small, neighborhood-oriented elementary school in a lake-community setting well outside a major city. The reading results are a clear strength, the math and science results are more mixed, and the lack of trend data means there is no evidence yet of a trajectory. The car-dependent, unincorporated character of Cropwell means that most daily errands require a drive to Pell City, and the school itself is part of that larger district’s system. A family moving here should be comfortable with that commute pattern and should plan to learn about the receiving schools their child will attend after fourth grade.
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