Payne Elementary School, Selma AL

Original Research by School Decision on Payne Elementary School

Payne Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and is one of the elementary schools in the Selma City district. The school’s student body is almost entirely African-American, and a very large share of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the city it serves. Selma itself is a small city with a deep civil rights history, situated on the Alabama River. It has experienced a prolonged population decline over many decades as manufacturing and agriculture faded, and it remains one of Alabama’s poorest cities, with a poverty rate that shapes the context for its schools. Housing in the area is notably affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, which is a realistic consideration for families looking at the neighborhood around the school.

On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, Payne Elementary’s results show a mixed picture. In English language arts, the share of students meeting proficiency benchmarks was a bit below the midpoint in third and fourth grades, then rose somewhat in fifth grade before dropping again in sixth grade. In mathematics, proficiency levels were lower across all tested grades, with a clear downward trend as students moved from third grade through sixth grade. Science, assessed only in fourth grade, was also in a softer range. Compared with other schools in Dallas County, Payne Elementary’s overall proficiency index falls in the top quartile among district-level peers. That is a meaningful distinction within a county that has only a small number of school districts, so the comparison set is narrow, but it does indicate that Payne’s combined results are stronger than those of the other district in the county. Still, for a parent evaluating whether this school is meeting academic benchmarks, the raw numbers show a building where a majority of students in most tested grades and subjects are below the proficiency line, and math is a particular area of concern that a family may want to ask the school about directly.

The school does not have a graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available, so a parent with a child receiving those services would want to confirm with the school what supports are in place. Discipline data and attendance figures were also not part of the available record, which limits a full picture of school climate. The district has publicly reported a focus on literacy, college and career readiness, and social-emotional learning in its strategic plan, and it has reorganized middle-grade instruction around a STEAM-focused academy at R.B. Hudson, which is the school Payne students would feed into. That secondary structure matters for families planning ahead. The district’s approach suggests a deliberate effort to align curriculum and programming from elementary through middle school.

As a regular public school in a city that is economically stressed and losing population, Payne Elementary operates in a setting where the challenges facing families are substantial. The student body is almost universally eligible for meal assistance, which is a proxy for the level of need in the community. The building itself sits on North Franklin Street in Selma, a city where civic and historic landmarks dominate the identity but where economic opportunity has narrowed. A parent looking at this school should weigh the affordability of housing and the school’s relative position within the local district against the academic results, and should seek direct conversation with the school about math instruction, student support services, and what the transition to the district’s STEAM middle school looks like.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 26% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 13% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 22% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 16% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 47% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 29% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 48% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 13% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolSelma City, 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.