Summary:
The city of Weaver, Alabama, is served by two public schools within the Calhoun County school district, which together educate about 1,012 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in a community where a majority of students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
For parents comparing the two schools, Weaver Elementary School (PK-6) shows a clear strength in early literacy, with 3rd and 5th grade English proficiency exceeding state averages, and 4th grade science proficiency running 8 points above the state. However, the school faces a serious challenge in 6th grade, where math proficiency plummets to just 10%—a staggering 25-point gap below the state average—and English drops to 41%. This "6th grade cliff" is the most urgent issue in the district, as these struggling students feed directly into Weaver High School (7-12), where 7th grade math proficiency is only 10.5%. The high school has seen its state ranking fall dramatically from the 88th percentile to the 39th percentile over two years, yet it maintains a 96% graduation rate and chronic absenteeism below the state average, suggesting strong student engagement despite academic struggles.
Both schools share a pattern of volatility in year-over-year scores, likely due to small class sizes where individual students can swing results significantly. The district spends more per high school student ($11,432) than elementary student ($8,759), and while math is a consistent weakness across all grades, science emerges as a relative strength at both levels. The most critical takeaway for parents is the transition years: 5th to 6th grade and 8th to 11th grade show the steepest declines in performance, indicating that students need additional support when adjusting to new academic structures and expectations. Early literacy foundations are solid, but without targeted intervention in middle grades, those gains erode by high school.
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