Summary:
Zip code 35218 in Birmingham, Alabama, is served by a single high school, Jackson-Olin High School, which enrolls 713 students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the Birmingham City district.
For parents, the most critical takeaway is that Jackson-Olin High School is facing severe academic challenges. The school ranks in the bottom 4% of Alabama high schools and holds a 0-star rating. Academic proficiency in 11th grade is alarmingly low: only 1.67% of students are proficient in mathematics, 7.22% in science, and 9.77% in English. These figures are dramatically below state averages—for example, math proficiency is 16 times lower than the state's 27.21%. The graduation rate of 63.8% also lags far behind the district's 80.9% and the state's 91.5%, meaning more than one in three students does not graduate on time. While the school has shown marginal improvement in math (from 0% to 1.67% proficiency) and its state ranking has ticked up from the 1st to the 4th percentile, the overall performance remains critically low.
Interestingly, chronic absenteeism at the school (9.3%) is actually better than both the district (13.1%) and state (12.0%) averages, suggesting students are attending but still struggling—pointing to deeper instructional or resource issues. The school serves a predominantly low-income population, with 86.12% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, and per-student spending is $13,381. With only one high school in the zip code, families have no immediate school choice, which raises equity concerns. The combination of high poverty, low proficiency, and a graduation rate cliff creates a difficult cycle, though the slight upward trajectory in rankings and math scores may hint at early intervention efforts beginning to take hold.
Thank you for your feedback!