Oakdale Elementary School

Set in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Oakdale Elementary School is a cozy elementary school, run under Tuscaloosa City. It works with 292 students across grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 39% smaller than the typical public school in Alabama, which averages around 480 students.

Tuscaloosa City comprises 19 schools with combined enrollment of 11,230 students; Oakdale Elementary School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Oakdale Elementary School shows that 90% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. The remainder reads as 5% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 31% Black, putting the school's mix visibly more Black than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Oakdale Elementary School records 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.5:1. The state averages around 17.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 80% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Tuscaloosa County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Oakdale Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 25.5%; this one delivers 27.5%.

In the area at large, Tuscaloosa County reports that median household earnings sit near $66,231, 32% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Oakdale Elementary School is one of 58 public schools in Tuscaloosa County (combined enrollment of about 30,508 students).

Martin L King Jr Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Oakdale Elementary School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 37.2%.

Oakdale Elementary School operates from a city-core location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Oakdale Elementary School has declined 7%, going from 314 students in 2018 to 292 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment shrank from 98% to 90% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 16.7:1 in 2018 to 13.5:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.