Summary:
Zip code 36604 in Mobile, Alabama is served by a single elementary school, Leinkauf Elementary School, which enrolls 542 students across grades PK-5 and is part of the Mobile County school district.
Leinkauf Elementary serves a predominantly economically disadvantaged student body, with 87.27% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The school's standout strength is 5th-grade mathematics, where 49.23% of students are proficient—a remarkable 15.17 percentage points above the district average and 10.17 points above the state average. This suggests an exceptional teacher, a strong cohort, or effective interventions at that grade level. However, the school faces significant challenges elsewhere. Science proficiency is critically low at just 21.78% for 4th graders, nearly 29 points below the state average. The 4th grade appears to be a consistent trouble spot, with both math (30.69%) and English (37.62%) proficiency lagging far behind state averages, and 4th-grade math experienced a steep 20.87-point decline year-over-year. Meanwhile, 3rd-grade math also dropped 11.24 points, though 3rd-grade English (56.04%) nearly matches the district average.
Despite these academic struggles, there are positive indicators. Chronic absenteeism is a manageable 11.6%, better than both the district (12.8%) and state (12.0%) averages, suggesting strong family engagement. The school's state ranking has been volatile, improving from 481st in 2023-2024 to 407th in 2024-2025, then falling back to 470th in 2025-2026. With a student-teacher ratio of 19.8:1 and per-student spending of $9,649, the school has reasonable resources but may struggle to provide individualized attention given class sizes. The most urgent priorities should be addressing the 4th-grade slump, overhauling science instruction, and studying what makes 5th-grade math so successful in order to replicate those strategies across other grades and subjects.
Thank you for your feedback!