Best Public Schools in Ardmore, AL

The city of Ardmore, Alabama, is served by two public schools within the Limestone County district: Ardmore High School (grades 6-12) and Cedar Hill Elementary School (grades PK-5), together educating about 1,540 students.

For parents, the standout story is Cedar Hill Elementary School, which is the clear academic leader in the area. It has improved its state ranking from the 62nd to the 70th percentile over the past two years, earning a 4-star rating. Its proficiency rates are dramatically higher than the high school's across all subjects—for example, 5th-grade English proficiency (72.73%) is nearly three times higher than 11th-grade English (24.44%). Cedar Hill also excels in science, with 4th-grade proficiency at 73.56%, far exceeding the state average. The school benefits from a favorable 14:1 student-teacher ratio and higher per-student spending ($9,451) compared to the high school. In contrast, Ardmore High School shines in one key area: a remarkable 99.1% graduation rate, well above the district (89.8%) and state (91.5%) averages. However, its academic proficiency is weaker, with math scores ranging from 17.74% (7th grade) to 40.8% (6th grade), and it faces a significant challenge with chronic absenteeism at 15.0%—more than double the district average.

Both schools serve similar socioeconomic populations, with about half of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, making the performance gap particularly noteworthy. Cedar Hill has shown impressive year-over-year gains, including a 27-point jump in 4th-grade science, while Ardmore High has mixed trends, with notable improvements in 7th-grade English (+18.31 points) but declines in 8th-grade English (-10.55 points). The resource disparity—Cedar Hill spends $1,658 more per student—may partially explain the differences. Parents should consider that while the elementary school is thriving academically, the high school's strong graduation rate is offset by lower test scores and absenteeism concerns, suggesting the district could benefit from replicating Cedar Hill's successful strategies at the secondary level.