The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mcintosh Elementary School
McIntosh Elementary serves a very small rural community in southwestern Alabama, within the Washington County school system. The town of McIntosh sits atop a massive natural salt dome, and its industrial plants, including chemical facilities built in the mid-twentieth century, anchor the local economy. Manufacturing accounts for a substantial portion of the workforce, and the Tombigbee River forms the town’s eastern boundary. The population declined modestly over the last decade or so, and the built environment is sparse. There is no downtown commercial district to walk to; the school sits on the north end of town along the highway, with the high school on the south end.
The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school. It is not a charter or magnet school, and Title I status was not reported. The enrollment is small for a K-5 campus. The student body is predominantly Black and American Indian, with a smaller share of white students and a very small number of multiracial and Hispanic students. More than four out of five students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which places the school in a high-poverty category. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source materials, so those figures cannot be assessed here.
State testing results come from the Alabama ACAP assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year. For mathematics, third-grade proficiency is the strongest of the three tested grades, though still low, while fourth- and fifth-grade proficiency rates are notably lower. In English language arts, third graders show a much stronger performance, with more than half of students meeting the proficiency bar. Fourth and fifth grade ELA proficiency rates are lower than third grade but still higher than the same grades in math. Science is tested in fourth grade only, and proficiency there is low. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency is roughly in the range where a family would want to follow up with the school about academic support and improvement efforts. The multi-year trend data shows only a single year of results, so there is no way to tell whether performance has been stable, improving, or declining over time.
The school serves only elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Special programs, course access, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, and discipline data were not available in the materials reviewed. The comparison fact-set intended to place the school relative to other districts in Washington County could not produce a viable comparison because the cohort of districts was too small to draw meaningful contrasts. A family considering this school cannot rely on neighbor comparisons to gauge relative performance.
McIntosh Elementary serves a small, economically disadvantaged, and racially diverse rural student body. Academic proficiency is strongest in third-grade reading, while math and science results across the tested grades are low enough that a parent would want to understand what interventions and supports are in place. The school and district did not report several data categories that would ordinarily help a family assess the learning environment, so those remain open questions. For a family rooted in this community, the school is the sole elementary option in town. For a family looking to move into the area, the broader context of a shrinking rural town with an industrial base and limited commercial amenities is worth weighing alongside the school’s performance profile.
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