Academic proficiency is climbing steadily at every elementary school in the city of Tuscaloosa, relatively stagnant in middle schools and very low in its three high schools, according to data provided by the system this week.

As residents should know well, Tuscaloosa will vote in less than two weeks on whether to increase property tax rates in the city by 22 percent and raise more than $17 million for the city school system annually.

The system will dip into reserves to offset at $6 million deficit this fiscal year, and without new revenue, cuts will have to be made across the system as soon as 2026.

Ahead of the September 24th vote, the Thread met with Deputy Superintendent James Pope on Thursday to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of proficiency scores at 21 TCS schools.

"We know our reality and we face our reality every single day," Pope said Thursday. "We're not hiding anything, and we're addressing our deficits but we also celebrate our growth."

So acknowledging from the outset that this is hardly light reading, let's get into it.

Widespread Elementary Improvement

Since 2021, all Alabama students in grades 2 - 8 have been tested once a year, in the spring, using the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, which measures proficiency in English & Language Arts and Mathematics. Fourth, Sixth and Eighth graders are also assessed for science aptitude.

Far and away the most encouraging news in the data provided is widespread and rapid improvement in academic proficiency scores at the elementary school level, which ends after 5th grade.

According to data provided by the school system, ACAP scores are soaring in TCS elementary schools, especially over several years.

The first chart below shows ELA scores in elementary schools - every single school's 2024 scores are higher than 2021 and systemwide, elementary ELA proficiency rose from 42 percent to 56 percent. 

"Look at Arcadia Elementary," Pope said in our interview. "They began at 32 percent, the second year they took it, they had a slight, 2 percent dip. But in the third year they took it, 40 percent proficiency, which was a 10 percent increase. And last year's data - Arcadia went from 40 percent to 54. Central went from 23 to 30 percent. Martin Luther King went from 26 to 43 percent."

The data is similarly encouraging for math proficiencies - every single elementary school improved in the last three years, with seven separate schools climbing out of single-digit math proficiency to much higher numbers.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS ACAP ASSESSMENTS - MATH

While there's plenty of progress left to be made, system-wide elementary math proficiency rose from 21 percent in 2021 to 33 percent in the 2024 academic year.

"I just want to stress again on how significant an increase of anything over 5 percent is in the education world," Pope said. "When people do their goal-setting, they're normally shooting for a 5 percent gain because it's so much more achievable. And man if you saw a 5 percent decrease anywhere, you'd be looking sideways at them because that's a huge drop. So any increase over 5 percent should get a celebration with confetti and balloons."

Pope said these improvements, which are demonstrable at every TCS elementary school without exception, are the result of a specific strategy outlined by superintendent Mike Daria years ago.

"When Dr. Daria became superintendent, his thing was that we were no longer going to put bandaids on the issues," Pope said. "He said we have to face the issues where they start, at the foundation, which our kids in grade school."

"When he did become superintendent, the data reflected 37 percent of our third graders were reading on grade level," Pope said. "We can proudly say today we have 90 percent of our third graders reading on grade level on the state assessment which has only gotten much harder and much more rigorous."

This progress has been hard-fought and appears to have not yet trickled into the system's middle and high schools.

Mostly Stagnant Middle Schools

There is less good news to prune from assessments of TCS's five middle schools, where students are in grades 6, 7 and 8.

ELA proficiency systemwide only rose from 42 percent to 45 percent from 2021 to 2024, most of which can be tied to encouraging progress at Westlawn Middle School.

"That's one we want to brag on, look at Westlawn," Pope said. "This is the highest Westlawn has ever been and the highest proficiency increase they've ever had in a single year. Westlawn, historically, has always been that place in the trenches, and it's been given support but that gap has always been there. Dr. Atkins is leading a team of people and connecting with her parents and community and that's why you see that 10 percent gain there."

Eastwood Middle School gained no ground year-over-year, and ELA proficiency fell at Northridge Middle and The Alberta School of Performing Arts.

Math scores have risen across the board from 2021 figures, but overall proficiency is still low. Just 22 percent of TCS middle schoolers were deemed proficient in math in 2024.

At Eastwood and Westlawn Middle, less than 10 percent of the student body was deemed proficient in math last year.

"In middle school, you see some decreases year-over-year," Pope said. "They're not major decreases, but they're decreases we want to make sure we address and we have already addressed."

The progress at Westlawn - where there is obviously still a lot of ground to gain - shows what's possible with the right leadership, and Pope said to see similar results across the board will take "precision, dedication, funding and transparency."

Low Scores Worsen at TCS High Schools

The proficiency data is bleaker at the three high schools in the TCS System - Paul Bryant High, Central High and Northridge High.

It's important to note that ACAP assessments end at 8th grade, and so the data available to assess high schools is more limited. Pope said in Alabama, freshmen and sophomores are not assessed, and instead high schools are gauged exclusively on the ACT scores of its juniors, who are required to take the standardized test each spring.

The ACT test covers English, reading, math and scientific reasoning, with an optional writing component. Each segment is graded one a scale of 1 to 36, and students are given a Composite score averaging the results of the test's four primary subjects.

Pope said in order to be deemed proficient in ELA or Math, students must score a 19 or better on those sections of the ACT test. Most Tuscaloosa high schools failed to do so.

Only 25 percent of TCS high schoolers tested proficient in ELA, and that stat is heavily padded by Northridge High. At Bryant, only 10 percent of students were proficient, at just 14 percent at Central. A TCS spokeswoman said the statewide average in 2024 was 24 percent proficiency.

"The ACT is a college assessment - and I'm going to say this without giving any excuses - everybody in high school is not going to college," Pope said. "If they were giving a state assessment on 11th grade English Language Arts standards, I would feel better about where we were."

Only 18 percent of TCS juniors tested were proficient in math last year, and single-digit scores at Bryant and Central were offset by 37 percent proficiency at Northridge - which represented a 10 percent decline from NHS's 2023 numbers.

Statewide math proficiency was 14 percent, the spokeswoman said.

Pope readily acknowledged the low proficiency scores at TCS high schools but noted that systemwide, TCS scores are marginally better than state scores.

"When you look at a snapshot or someone pulls this data, you're not looking at the overall picture of what the state average is, and we want to compare everyone and see where we fall," Pope said. "Also, we know we want to do better, we're going to do better, we have the right people to do better, and we have a community that wants to address those issues and support us in doing so."

Pope also noted that in the last few years, TCS has been sharply focused on results for their graduating seniors, requiring them to have a plan to either enroll in a college or university, enlist in the military or find full-time employment.

Looking at those results, the picture is brighter. According to a TCS spokeswoman, last year the three high schools graduated a total of 666 students.

In 2024, more than 95 percent of graduates had a confirmed post-secondary plan - 552 students enrolled, 7 enlisted, and 75 were employed.

Pope said the state also acknowledges those positive outcomes for students, and in addition to assessing ACT scores, the state now ranks schools and systems on a College and Career Readiness rubric.

Pope said by those standards, 94 percent of Northridge students are ready, 86 percent at Bryant and 75 percent at Central High. That makes a systemwide average of 86 percent - far better than ACT scores alone would indicate.

"It's no longer just about this ACT, it's ACT and this CCRI and the graduation rate," Pope said.

Even so, Pope said beginning this year, TCS is implementing a strategy to ensure high school curriculums include specific lessons tested on the ACT so juniors can be more successful when they are assessed in the future.

"We want our kids to be successful," Pope said. "We're not teaching to the test, but we want our kids to have the ACT score, the military test score and that job offer so they can do any of the three."

Pope pointed to TCS programs they help will continue to turn the tide. The school system pays about 40 retired teachers to act as interventionists and directly support students who need one-on-one lessons that could slow down the rest of their classes.

TCS also regularly contracts with a third party, Kids First, to provide coaching to teachers, additional intervention for students and support for new principals.

"We are an urban school district, and there are a lot of barriers and challenges that our kids face each and every day, but we are charged with ensuring that they are in a proper, safe environment, that their educations are excellent and those supports such as interventionists are given to them," Pope said. "Those supports are why you see the green arrows on these charts. Those green arrows would not be there if we did not have the funding we have currently. If those funds go away, those supports will look different, even if the passion and dedication look the same."

Tuscaloosa citizens will vote on whether to increase property taxes to support city schools on Tuesday, September 24th.