Alabama Sees Third-Grade Reading Progress Slow
Use the tabs to move between different views of the data and use the menus to focus in on the systems, schools, or subjects that you are most interested in. After multiple years of progress, Alabama third grade reading performance plateaued in 2026, with 11.8% of students scoring under the grade-level benchmark, roughly matching the […]
Graduation and Readiness Rates Continue to Rise
Use the tabs to move between different views of the data and use the menus to focus in on the systems, schools, or subjects that you are most interested in. Seniors in the graduating class of 2025 set records on two measures: 93% of seniors graduated on time four years after entering in 9th grade and 91% […]
Fewer 2025 High School Grads Passed Workplace Readiness Test
Use the tabs to move between different views of the data and use the menus to focus in on the systems, schools, or subjects that you are most interested in. Despite the increasing emphasis on college and career readiness in Alabama high schools, fewer students are earning work-readiness certifications through the standardized test known as […]
Keys to Success in College and Career Readiness
This spring, all Alabama high school graduates will have to earn a marker of college and/or career readiness in order to graduate.1 In this installment of PARCA’s Keys to Success series, we visit Opp High School, which has been one of the state’s most successful schools at producing college and career-ready graduates. In fact, for […]
PARCA Partners with VOICES on the 2025 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
VOICES for Alabama’s Children published the 2025 Alabama Kids Count Data Book yesterday. For the 10th year in a row, PARCA worked with VOICES as a data partner for the project. Since 1994, the Alabama Kids Count Data Book has documented and tracked the health, education, safety, and economic security of children at the state and county levels. […]
Higher Expectations Set and Met
The Business Education Alliance of Alabama (BEA), with PARCA as its research partner, has released its 2026 report, HIGHER EXPECTATIONS SET AND MET: A Decade of Improving Public Education and Workforce for a Better Alabama. The 2026 report highlights the major recommendations of each BEA report since its first one in 2014 plus the Commission […]
New Form Clouds Picture of Public School Enrollment Trends
A federally required change in reporting on student race and ethnicity in Alabama public schools has led to a precipitous drop in the reported number and percentage of Hispanic students enrolled in Alabama public schools in the 2025-2026 school year. However, at the same time, the new reporting procedure led to a sharp increase in […]
Alabama Public School Students Continue Gains in English and Math in both Elementary and Middle School
Alabama students continued steady improvement in English and math across all grade levels on the state’s suite of standardized tests, the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP). The tests are given in the spring to students in public schools statewide, grades 3-8. Across all grades, 60% of students tested proficient in English Language Arts (ELA), 42% […]
Underdog Wilcox County Scores Near the Top in Reading
This is the first in our new Keys to Success series. The series spotlights schools and school systems that outperform their peers or show remarkable improvement and asks, “What is driving performance, and what can be replicated?” The series is supported by the generosity of Bedsole Foundation, Charles & Estelle Campbell Foundation, Daniel Foundation, Hugh Kaul Foundation, Mike & Gillian […]
New Data Shows Progress on Third Grade Reading Continues
Due to a new higher standard, the number and percentage of third graders who failed to meet the grade-level reading benchmark rose in 2025. However, taking the higher standard into account, this year’s third graders showed continued improvement, indicating that the state’s focus on improving early grades literacy is continuing to pay dividends. This spring, […]