Cottondale Elementary School

Located at 2301 Cottondale Ln, in Cottondale, Alabama, Cottondale Elementary School is a moderately sized K-5 school that hosts 438 students (grades pre-K through 5), one of the schools within Tuscaloosa County.

Cottondale Elementary School is one of 35 schools operated by Tuscaloosa County, a district that caters to 19,278 students overall.

Demographically, Cottondale Elementary School shows that the largest single group is White at 36%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 31% Hispanic, 28% Black, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Tuscaloosa County as a whole is about 60% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school currently runs with 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.5:1. The state averages about 17.0:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 71% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Tuscaloosa County (around 54%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Cottondale Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 32.7%, the actual is 28.4%, a residual of -4.3 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Tuscaloosa County shows median household earnings sit near $66,231, about 32% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Tuscaloosa County runs 58 public schools (combined enrollment of about 30,508 students), of which Cottondale Elementary School is one.

The closest other public school is DavisEmerson Middle School, roughly 0.6 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Cottondale Elementary School comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 37.8%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Looking at the recent track record. Cottondale Elementary School's enrollment has rose 21% since 2018, when it stood at 362 (now 438). Over the same period, the White share declined from 49% to 36%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 20.1:1 in 2018 to 17.5:1 today.

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