Enrollment
364
Elementary
DISTRICT 327 · STATE 480
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BESSEMER CITY·NCES 010033000084
Charles F Hard Elementary School
2801 Arlington Ave, Bessemer, AL 35020 · (205) 432-3300 · Jefferson County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL364 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 0% of Alabama public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Alabama public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
19.2:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.4:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
81%
294 students
DISTRICT 78% · STATE 58%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 29 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 65 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 61 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 56 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 58 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 43 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 52 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is 25% larger than its 5th grade class (52).
Student demographics
24%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Charles F Hard Elementary School→Bessemer City Middle School
Based on grade levels within Bessemer City. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at Charles F Hard Elementary School.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
30.3%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
7.4%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 7 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Alabama schools, those numbers are about 53 and 32.
Source: ACAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
14.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
25.3%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 15% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% typical for Alabama schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Alabama's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Charles F Hard Elementary School
Charles F Hard Elementary School's state test result (14.7% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles F Hard Elementary School this school | 364 | 80.8% | 14.7% |
| Hemphill Elementary School Birmingham | 353 | 79.0% | 24.5% |
| Covenant Academy of Mobile Mobile | 327 | 82.9% | 28.5% |
| LEAD Academy Building A Montgomery | 358 | 77.7% | 38.3% |
| Johnson Elementary School Montgomery | 340 | 79.1% | 20.3% |
| Richard Arrington Elementary Birmingham | 341 | 80.4% | 16.9% |
Matched among Alabama elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Charles F Hard Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Jefferson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 14.7% | #619 of 626 | #86 of 89 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 7.4% | #618 of 626 | #85 of 89 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 30.3% | #604 of 626 | #84 of 89 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 364 | #492 of 709 | #71 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.2:1 | #555 of 655 | #70 of 93 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 23.9% | #540 of 658 | #73 of 94 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.8% | #79 of 696 | #9 of 96 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.0% | #237 of 262 | #30 of 31 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
364
-5 (-1%) vs 2020
-55% since 1990-91, when it was 807
Student : Teacher
19.2:1
was 15.4:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 364 | 19 | 19.2:1 | 81% (294) |
| 2023-24 | 350 | 16 | 21.9:1 | 85% (297) |
| 2022-23 | 342 | 20 | 17.1:1 | 86% (293) |
| 2020-21 | 369 | 24 | 15.4:1 | 83% (308) |
| 2017-18 | 357 | 18 | 19.8:1 | 88% (315) |
| 2015-16 | 303 | 17 | 17.8:1 | 89% (270) |
| 2010-11 | 392 | 29 | 13.5:1 | 95% (372) |
| 2000-01 | 565 | 40 | 14.1:1 | 81% (455) |
| 1990-91 | 807 | 42 | 19.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Charles F Hard Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (357 to 364); teachers up 6% (18 to 19).
About Charles F Hard Elementary School
As a low-enrollment elementary school, Charles F Hard Elementary School serves students in Bessemer, Alabama. The school serves 364 students in pre-K through 5 in 2024-25. For comparison, elementary schools in Alabama average about 480 students.
Charles F Hard Elementary School is one of the 7 schools that make up Bessemer City (3,012 students in total).
Black students make up 87% of enrollment at Charles F Hard Elementary School. Next come 7% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. That compares with about 42% Black among all Jefferson County residents. The school's diversity index is 24%, meaning two students picked at random have a 24% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Teachers at the school number 19 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 19.2:1. On average, elementary schools in Alabama have 17.0:1, compared with 19.2:1 here. The school's lunch program data list 81% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. For comparison, public schools in Jefferson County average 52%.
allk12 grades Charles F Hard Elementary School an F. The grade compares the school only with Alabama public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
Charles F Hard Elementary School is 10.6 points below its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (14.7% versus 25.3%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Alabama.
Among Jefferson County residents, the median household income is $66,388, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Charles F Hard Elementary School is one of 181 public schools in the county.
Nearest public school: Empower Community SchoolLower School, about 0.7 miles away. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 26.7%; Charles F Hard Elementary School's is 14.7%, ranking 8th of 9.
Charles F Hard Elementary School has an NCES locale of Suburb: Large.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 369 to 364, a small change. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 15.4:1 to 19.2:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at Charles F Hard Elementary School. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Jefferson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
667,755
Census ACS
Median income
$66,388
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
181
97,401 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bessemer City
- Bessemer City High SchoolHigh · 760 students
- Bessemer City Middle SchoolMiddle · 616 students
- Jonesboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 474 students
- Greenwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 290 students
- Westhills Elementary SchoolElementary · 277 students
- Abrams Elementary SchoolElementary · 231 students
Other schools in Bessemer
- Oak Grove High SchoolHigh · 777 students
- Bessemer City High SchoolHigh · 760 students
- McCalla Elementary SchoolElementary · 752 students
- Bessemer City Middle SchoolMiddle · 616 students
- Oak Grove Elementary SchoolElementary · 576 students
- Jonesboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 474 students
Nearby schools
- Empower Community SchoolLower School0.7 mi · 201
- Abrams Elementary School1.1 mi · 231
- Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School1.2 mi · 161
- Lipscomb Elementary School1.6 mi · 221
- Jonesboro Elementary School2.4 mi · 474
- Brighton School2.5 mi · 336
Frequently asked questions
About Charles F Hard Elementary SchoolHow large is Charles F Hard Elementary School?
Charles F Hard Elementary School enrolls approximately 364 students in grades PK-05.
Is Charles F Hard Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Charles F Hard Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Charles F Hard Elementary School?
Approximately 19.2:1 students per teacher at Charles F Hard Elementary School.
What is the student diversity at Charles F Hard Elementary School?
Student demographics at Charles F Hard Elementary School are roughly 1% White, 7% Hispanic, 87% Black, 4% Two or more.
Is Charles F Hard Elementary School public or private?
Charles F Hard Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bessemer City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.