High Schools in Alexander City

Alexander City, Alabama, is served by a single public high school, Benjamin Russell High School, which enrolls 852 students in grades 9-12 within the Alexander City school district.

For parents, the most important story here is one of rapid decline. Just two years ago, Benjamin Russell was a 4-star school ranking in the top 25% of Alabama high schools. Today, it has fallen to a 2-star rating, sitting in the 48th percentile. This isn't a plateau—it's a steep drop. In the 2024-2025 school year, the school was actually beating the state average in science and English. By 2025-2026, it fell behind the state in every subject, with math proficiency at just 16.98%—nearly 10 points below the state average. The school's graduation rate (88.8%) remains close to the state average (91.5%), but this creates a troubling disconnect: students are graduating despite test scores that suggest they are not mastering grade-level content. Chronic absenteeism (11.8%) is also higher than the district average (9.3%), which may be contributing to the academic slide.

It's also important to consider the school's context. A majority of students (58.22%) qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a predominantly low-income population. While economic challenges often correlate with lower scores, the fact that this school performed better just two years ago with similar demographics suggests the recent decline is not simply a poverty issue. The student-teacher ratio is a reasonable 15.4:1, and per-student spending data is outdated (from 2018-2019), making it hard to assess current resource levels. Overall, Benjamin Russell is at a critical juncture. The combination of falling test scores, a plummeting state ranking, and rising absenteeism points to systemic problems that need immediate attention to prevent the school from becoming permanently entrenched in the bottom half of the state.