Fayetteville High School, Sylacauga AL

Original Research by School Decision on Fayetteville High School

Fayetteville High School serves the Fayetteville community, a part of Sylacauga in Talladega County. Sylacauga is a small industrial city known as “The Marble City,” sitting atop a large commercial deposit of cream-white marble that has been quarried since the 1800s. The city’s economy is built around marble and calcium carbonate processing, automotive manufacturing, an ice cream plant, and retail. Major employers include Blue Bell Creameries, IMERYS, and Nemak Alabama. The population has been mostly flat to slightly declining in recent decades. The city has a historic downtown core along Broadway Avenue and is bisected by major highways. Civic anchors include a museum, a public library, Lake Howard, and access to the Talladega National Forest.

Fayetteville High School is a regular public school serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is part of the Talladega County school district. State testing data from the most recent school year shows a pattern where performance is stronger in the elementary grades and weaker in the middle grades. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient is high in the early and upper elementary grades, then drops notably in seventh and eighth grade. In math, proficiency rates are moderate in the early grades but decline sharply by seventh and eighth grade, where very few students meet the bar. Science results follow a similar pattern, with a solid performance in fourth grade and a much lower rate in eighth grade. When compared across school districts in Talladega County, this school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile. A parent may want to look into how the school supports students making the transition to middle school, particularly in math, given the drop-off that appears in the testing data.

The student body is relatively small for a school that spans all grade levels. The great majority of students are white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a community with a notable portion of lower-income households. Information on special education identification and English learner enrollment was not available.

Because the school covers the full K-12 spectrum, a student can stay in the same building from kindergarten through high school. This creates a stable, consistent peer group and a familiar environment over many years. For families who live in the Fayetteville area, this school is the neighborhood school for all grades. The district brief showed no recent major changes or initiatives publicly reported, so the picture of what is happening at the school level today is best understood through the academic results and the demographic profile of the community it serves. Housing in the area is relatively affordable compared to state and national benchmarks, which fits the profile of a small, industrial city in a rural county.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 41 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 342%

School 42% · District 33% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 39% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 36% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 34% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 23% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 67% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 66% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 588%

School 88% · District 74% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 58% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 60% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 53% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Science

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 40% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 40% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

This schoolTalladega 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.