The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in English language arts. The lowest is 57% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Walter M Kennedy School
Walter M. Kennedy School is a regular public elementary school in Pell City, Alabama, serving kindergarten through fourth grade. It sits within the Pell City school district, which operates a network of elementary, intermediate, junior high, and high school campuses spread across this growing city on Interstate 20, roughly halfway between Birmingham and Atlanta. Pell City itself has been steadily adding residents, driven by its location on the I-20 corridor and the recreational draw of Logan Martin Lake. The area is car-oriented, with commercial strips near highway exits and a handful of parks and a civic center providing community gathering points. A recent property tax referendum passed in the district, funding full-time art and music teachers for elementary schools along with storm shelters and sports facility upgrades.
The student body at Kennedy is majority white, with Black students forming the next largest group and smaller numbers of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Because the school serves only early elementary grades, there are no graduation rate or high school-level metrics to report. State assessment data is available for the 2024-25 school year across reading, math, and science. In reading, the majority of students in both third and fourth grade met the state’s proficiency standard. Math results were lower, though still a majority in the fourth grade, while just over half of third graders met the math standard. Fourth-grade science results were similar to math. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed it in the top quartile among St. Clair County’s districts.
Several pieces of information that can help a family understand a school’s daily environment were not available in the data. There is no report on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or staffing ratios. The school’s Title I status is not stated. Similarly, data on students with disabilities and English learners was not provided. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these areas, especially early literacy support.
One state-level policy with direct relevance to families at Kennedy is the Alabama Literacy Act, which starting with the 2023-24 school year requires third graders to demonstrate reading proficiency on the state assessment to be promoted to fourth grade. This retention requirement affects every elementary school in the state, and Kennedy will have its own record of how its students fare under that standard. Families with children moving through the early grades will want to understand how the school prepares students for that benchmark.
Kennedy offers a typical elementary program for its grade band, serving as the entry point for many Pell City children. The school’s academic results suggest stronger performance in reading than in math and science, and its place among the county’s elementary schools is favorable relative to the other district. The neighborhood around Kennedy is shaped by Pell City’s auto-dependent layout and lake-influenced growth. For a family settling in this part of St. Clair County, the school represents a standard public elementary option within a district that has committed recent investment to the arts, safety, and facilities at the elementary level.
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