Enrollment
370
Elementary
DISTRICT 475 · STATE 480
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HUNTSVILLE CITY·NCES 010180000630
Highlands Elementary School
2500 Barney Terrace NW, Huntsville, AL 35810 · (256) 428-7200 · Madison County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL370 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Alabama public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
17.1:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
72%
267 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 | 28 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 60 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 45 | 12% |
| Grade 2 | 49 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 58 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 43 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 42 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (60) is 43% larger than its 6th grade class (42).
Student demographics
47%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · 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
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
40.4%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
14.9%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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
25.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.6%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Highlands Elementary School
Highlands Elementary School's state test result (25.9% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands Elementary School this school | 370 | 72.2% | 25.9% |
| James Dawson Elementary Huntsville | 447 | 70.7% | 23.4% |
| Minor Community School Birmingham | 384 | 74.2% | 29.6% |
| Central Park Elementary School Birmingham | 386 | 72.3% | 30.4% |
| Skyland Elementary School Tuscaloosa | 459 | 76.5% | 32.6% |
| Barrett Elementary School Birmingham | 383 | 76.5% | 19.2% |
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 Highlands Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Madison County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.9% | #555 of 626 | #42 of 48 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.9% | #565 of 626 | #45 of 48 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.4% | #541 of 626 | #40 of 48 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 370 | #490 of 709 | #41 of 50 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.1:1 | #342 of 655 | #23 of 49 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 46.7% | #339 of 658 | #43 of 49 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 72.2% | #189 of 696 | #6 of 49 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.9% | #96 of 364 | #8 of 29 |
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
370
-43 (-10%) vs 2020
-30% since 1990-91, when it was 529
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
was 14.2:1
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 | 370 | 21.7 | 17.1:1 | 72% (267) |
| 2023-24 | 380 | 24.5 | 15.5:1 | 85% (324) |
| 2022-23 | 371 | 19.8 | 18.7:1 | 83% (309) |
| 2020-21 | 413 | 29 | 14.2:1 | 82% (338) |
| 2017-18 | 462 | 28.9 | 16.0:1 | 83% (383) |
| 2015-16 | 509 | 31 | 16.4:1 | 56% (287) |
| 2010-11 | 476 | 30 | 15.9:1 | 85% (406) |
| 2000-01 | 553 | 37 | 14.9:1 | 70% (388) |
| 1990-91 | 529 | 30 | 17.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highlands Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (462 to 370); teachers down 25% (28.9 to 21.7).
About Highlands Elementary School
Highlands Elementary School is a small elementary school for students in Huntsville, Alabama. The school runs pre-K through 6 and enrolls 370 students. By comparison, elementary schools in Alabama enroll about 480 students on average.
Huntsville City is responsible for 44 schools, Highlands Elementary School included, with 24,222 students in all.
Federal enrollment data show Highlands Elementary School is 71% Black. The remaining shares are 18% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 4% White. Madison County as a whole is about 24% Black, so the school's share is higher. A diversity index of 47% means there is a 47% chance two randomly chosen students at Highlands Elementary School are from different groups.
With 21.7 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 17.1:1. The 17.0:1 average for elementary schools in Alabama is close to this figure. Roughly 72% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 41% for public schools in Madison County.
Highlands Elementary School earns a D on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 7% of Alabama public elementary schools.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate across its state test results with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Highlands Elementary School, the prediction is 31.6% and the result is 25.9%.
In the wider Madison County area, median household income comes to about $86,499, roughly 46% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Madison County's 89 public schools enroll about 55,800 students and include Highlands Elementary School.
A public school about 0.3 miles away, Academy for Academics and Arts Middle School, is the closest to Highlands Elementary School. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Its average proficiency rate of 25.9% is below the 34.8% average for nearby schools.
Highlands Elementary School falls in the City: Mid-size locale category, used for schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
A 10% drop took enrollment from 413 in 2020-21 to 370 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 14.2:1 to 17.1:1.
Highlands Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. You can also rate the school on this page.
Madison County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
405,718
Census ACS
Median income
$86,499
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
89
55,800 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Huntsville City
- Virgil Grissom High SchoolHigh · 1,847 students
- Huntsville High SchoolHigh · 1,807 students
- Providence ElementaryElementary · 1,152 students
- GoldsmithSchiffman ElementaryElementary · 935 students
- Columbia High SchoolHigh · 916 students
- Lee High SchoolHigh · 877 students
Other schools in Huntsville
- Virgil Grissom High SchoolHigh · 1,847 students
- Huntsville High SchoolHigh · 1,807 students
- Providence ElementaryElementary · 1,152 students
- Monrovia Middle SchoolMiddle · 988 students
- Columbia High SchoolHigh · 916 students
- Lee High SchoolHigh · 877 students
Other Highlands Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 13 states are named Highlands Elementary. Highlands Elementary School is the 19th largest of the 25.
- Highlands Elementary SchoolDothan, AL · 501 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolHIGHLANDS, TX · 868 students
- Highlands ElementarySaugus, CA · 666 students
- HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLIMMOKALEE, FL · 599 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolLa Grange Highlands, IL · 565 students
Nearby schools
- Academy for Academics and Arts Middle School0.3 mi · 270
- Academy For Academics Arts Elementary School0.3 mi · 400
- James Dawson Elementary1.2 mi · 447
- Montview Elementary School1.5 mi · 213
- Academy For Science Foreign Language1.6 mi · 303
- Academy For Science Foreign Language Middle School1.6 mi · 194
Frequently asked questions
About Highlands Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Highlands Elementary School?
Highlands Elementary School enrolls approximately 370 students in grades PK-06.
What grades does Highlands Elementary School serve?
Highlands Elementary School serves grades PK-06.
How many teachers does Highlands Elementary School have?
Highlands Elementary School employs 22 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.1:1.
How diverse is Highlands Elementary School?
Highlands Elementary School reports a student body of 4% White, 18% Hispanic, 71% Black, 2% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Highlands Elementary School public or private?
Highlands Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Huntsville City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.