High Schools in Birmingham City

The Birmingham City school district in Alabama contains 7 high schools serving grades 9-12, with a total enrollment of roughly 5,500 students, and the district itself ranks in the bottom 14% of Alabama districts, presenting significant challenges for families navigating school choice in the area.

For parents, the standout choice is clearly Ramsay High School, which ranks in the top 11% of all Alabama high schools and is the only school in the district with a perfect 100% graduation rate. Ramsay dramatically outperforms every other school in the district across all subjects—for example, 39% of its students are proficient in math compared to just 12.6% at Huffman High School Magnet, the next highest performer, and less than 3% at most other schools. Ramsay also has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (50.7%) in the district, while all other schools exceed 79%. At the other end of the spectrum, George Washington Carver High School ranks 374th out of 380 schools statewide with math proficiency below 1%, despite maintaining a 91.5% graduation rate—a disconnect that suggests students may be graduating without mastering core academic skills. Jackson-Olin High School has the lowest graduation rate (63.8%) and has shown a declining trajectory over recent years.

Several counterintuitive patterns emerge from the data. Parker High School spends the most per student ($15,289) yet has only a 75% graduation rate and proficiency rates below 15%, while Ramsay spends the least ($11,746) and achieves the best outcomes—suggesting that funding alone doesn't drive success. Chronic absenteeism also doesn't align with performance: the lowest-performing schools like Carver and Jackson-Olin have relatively low absenteeism (9.1% and 9.3%), while Ramsay has a higher rate (15.9%) yet still excels. Both Woodlawn High School Magnet and Huffman carry the "Magnet" designation but perform very differently, with Huffman ranking in the 17th percentile and Woodlawn in the 4th. Overall, this district presents one exceptional school in Ramsay, while the other six schools struggle with proficiency rates below 20% in most subjects, highlighting a stark achievement gap that parents should carefully consider when evaluating options.