Summary:
Arab City is a small, high-performing school district in Alabama with four schools—Arab Primary School (PK-2), Arab Elementary School (3-5), Arab Junior High School (6-8), and Arab High School (9-12)—serving about 2,595 students. The district ranks 7th out of 139 in Alabama (95th percentile) with a 5-star rating, and every school outperforms state averages in every subject and grade level by at least 14 percentage points.
The standout is Arab Elementary School, which ranks 42nd out of 686 Alabama elementary schools (94th percentile) and posts the district's highest proficiency rates—80.21% in 4th grade math and 87.88% in 5th grade English. Arab High School is the rising star, jumping from 45th to 17th in the state in one year, with math proficiency soaring from 34.5% to 50.57% and a 94.5% graduation rate. Arab Junior High School is the consistent performer, ranking in the 94th-95th percentile for three straight years, with 8th grade science proficiency at 76.96%—nearly 23 points above the state. Arab Primary School has no test data (testing starts in 3rd grade), but the strong 3rd grade scores at Arab Elementary suggest it prepares students well.
Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low at 3.8% district-wide (state: 12.0%), and even the "worst" school, Arab Junior High at 6.1%, is half the state average. The district shows a typical decline in proficiency as students advance—math drops from 76-80% in 3rd-4th grade to 50.57% in 11th grade—but the gap over the state actually widens in middle school, peaking at +41.42 points in 7th grade math. Interestingly, Arab High School spends the most per student ($10,984) yet has the lowest scores, while Arab Elementary spends the least ($7,777) and has the highest, suggesting factors like teacher quality and family support drive success more than funding. With 39-46% of students on free/reduced lunch, the district proves economic diversity doesn't hinder top-5% performance.
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