The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) released its annual report card Friday, which showed that 74 schools across 28 districts, as well as one charter school, were failing – among them were two in the Selma City Schools system and three within the Dallas County Schools system.

The results of the annual report card are based on standardized test results and provide data on a variety of points, including academic achievement, academic growth, graduation rate, college and career readiness, chronic absenteeism and more.

Further, the report card provides demographic information for each school, including the number of migrant students, homeless or economically disadvantaged students, disabled students and English learners.

Selma High School and R.B. Hudson Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy were the two in the Selma listed as failing, but Selma City Schools Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams contends that there is more to these schools than data might suggest.

“This data point does not define our schools or district,” Williams said. “As with any data point, we will use it to determine areas where improvements are needed. Our teachers and leaders are committed to ensuring that we are improving academic outcomes for all scholars.”

Williams noted that the report card is “based on proficiency only and does not consider growth and cannot account for vast amounts of improvement taking place in both schools.”

“Visit either of these schools and I assure you that you will not see a failing school,” Williams said. “Rather, you will see a STEAM Academy with a variety of enriching opportunities. You will see scholars engaged on purposeful, project-based learning activities. You will see our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.”

R.B. Hudson STEAM Academy’s overall score came out to a 63 D, with a score of 31.22 in academic achievement, a score of 86.19 in academic growth and a chronic absenteeism rate of 19.13 percent under 2019 Accountability Indicators.

The data also shows that 81.98 percent of students at R.B. Hudson are considered economically disadvantaged, 11.36 percent are students with disabilities and 1.23 percent are a part of military families.

As far as proficiency is concerned, 20.55 percent of R.B. Hudson students are proficient in reading, 11.53 percent are proficient in math and 9.18 percent are proficient in science with more than 98 percent of students participating in each.

At Selma High School, the overall grade came out to a 68 D, with a score of 26.9 in academic achievement, 77.41 in academic growth, a graduation rate of 89.45 percent, a chronic absenteeism rate of 23.73 with just over 50 percent of students deemed college and career ready.

Just over 71 percent of Selma High students are considered economically disadvantaged, 9.51 percent are students with disabilities and less than one percent are from military families.

In terms of proficiency, 12.83 percent of Selma High students are considered proficient in reading, 7.49 percent are proficient in math and 11.76 percent are proficient in science with a 92.7 percent participation rate across the board.

Elsewhere in the district, Cedar Park Elementary earned an overall 80 B, with a score of 100 in academic growth; Clark Elementary earned an overall 73 C, with a score of 92.3 in academic growth; Edgewood Elementary scored an overall 70 C and Knox Elementary scored a 69 D; Meadowview Elementary scored an overall 88 B, with a score of 99.04 in academic growth; Payne Elementary scored an overall 83 B, with a score of 100 in academic growth; Sophia P. Kingston Elementary scored an overall 71 C and the School of Discovery earned an overall 77 C.

In Dallas County, schools that wound up on the failing list include Keith Middle-High School, Southside High School and Tipton Durant Middle School, but Dallas County Schools Superintendent Hattie Shelton asserts that her office, as well as educators and administrators across the district, are already hard at work addressing the issues affecting each school.

Shelton has implemented a multi-pronged approach to addressing the failing schools, all of which appeared on the failing list in last year’s report card, which includes recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified teachers, providing extensive professional development opportunities for the faculty at each school and providing ample support at the district level.

“Each of these schools are focused on increasing the level of rigorous and challenging learning opportunities for their students,” Shelton said. “To assist with the effort of increasing academic rigor, each of the schools have acquired grants from Acellus to provide our students access to STEM activities that are project based to increase the students’ ability to apply concepts acquired across the curriculum. Our belief is this level of instruction will increase our students’ performance in academic achievement, which is the data source used to determine schools on this list. Each individual school has made a decision to focus on standards-based instruction as well in an effort to increase academic achievement for all students.”

Additionally, Shelton is soliciting feedback from the community.

“At the district level, we have made an effort to ensure our stakeholders are willing to become strong partners with our schools by providing opportunities for parents and students to have a platform to share concerns and support for the instructional programs in each zone,” Shelton said. “Thus far, we have had three meetings, dubbed Parent Conversations with the Superintendent, to allow the parents to share their hopes, dreams and wishes for their children and how we can partner to successfully achieve them. We have also created two Superintendent’s Student Advisory Boards to provide our students the opportunity to have a voice in what is working or not working in our schools and how they think we can improve our schools.”

The overall grade at Tipton Durant Middle was a 57 F, with a score of 28.14 in academic achievement, 74.64 in academic growth and a chronic absenteeism rate of 22.22 percent.

More than 84 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged, 3.6 percent are homeless and 15.32 percent are students with disabilities.

When it comes to proficiency, 13.51 percent of Tipton Durant Middle students are considered proficient in reading, 6.31 percent are considered proficient in math and 4.62 percent are considered proficient in science with over 99 percent of students participating in each.

At Keith Middle-High, the overall score came out to 69 D, with a score of 34.69 in academic achievement, 86.3 in academic growth, a graduation rate of 89.55 percent and a chronic absenteeism rate of 28.24 percent, with just over 19 percent of students deemed college and career ready.

Just over 77 percent of Keith Middle-High students are considered economically disadvantaged, 13.08 percent are homeless, 18.14 percent are students with disabilities and just over 1 percent are from military families.

Where proficiency is concerned, 16.03 percent of Keith Middle-High students are considered proficient in reading, 17.56 percent are proficient in math and 8.45 percent are proficient in science with more than 99 percent of students participating in each.

Over at Southside High, the overall score came out to a 65 D, with a score of 24.68 in academic achievement, a score of 70.78 for academic achievement, a graduation rate of 93.81 percent, a chronic absenteeism rate of 34.2 percent and just over 40 percent of students considered college and career ready.

A little more than 74 percent of Southside High students are considered economically disadvantaged, just under 7 percent are considered homeless, 13.88 percent are students with disabilities and just over 9 percent are from military families.

In terms of proficiency, just over 8.5 percent of Southside High students are considered proficient in reading, 6.1 percent are proficient in math and science with 97.62 percent of students participating in each.

Elsewhere in Dallas County Schools, Brantley Elementary scored an overall 63 D; Salem Elementary scored an overall 77 C; Bruce K. Craig Elementary scored an overall 75 C; J.E. Terry Elementary scored an overall 87 B, with a score of 100 for academic growth; Valley Grande Elementary scored an overall 84 B, with a score of 98.78 for academic growth; Southside Primary scored and overall 72 C and William R. Martin Middle scored an overall 80 B, with a score of 100 in academic growth; Dallas County High scored an overall 71 C, with a graduation rate of 92.8 percent.