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What's the biggest difference between Shades Cahaba Elementary School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
507
Elementary
DISTRICT 720 · STATE 480
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HOMEWOOD CITY·NCES 010176000610
Shades Cahaba Elementary School
3001 Independence Drive, Homewood, AL 35209 · (205) 871-1113 · Jefferson County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL507 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 92% of Alabama public elementary schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats 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
12.7:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
22%
112 students
DISTRICT 25% · STATE 58%
Community
6
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 94 | 19% |
| Grade 1 | 92 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 80 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 77 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (94) is 18% larger than its 5th grade class (80).
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
Based on grade levels within Homewood City. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
89.6%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
73.7%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 90 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 74 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
81.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
67.9%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+13.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 82% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 68% 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 Shades Cahaba Elementary School
Shades Cahaba Elementary School's state test result (81.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shades Cahaba Elementary School this school | 507 | 22.1% | 81.8% |
| Cahaba Elementary School Trussville | 542 | 18.5% | 78.4% |
| Verner Elementary School Tuscaloosa | 608 | 19.7% | 71.6% |
| Rockwell Elementary School Spanish Fort | 682 | 17.7% | 77.9% |
| Magnolia Elementary School Trussville | 391 | 23.8% | 76.0% |
| Weatherly Heights Elementary School Huntsville | 472 | 28.6% | 59.7% |
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 Shades Cahaba Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Jefferson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 81.8% | #21 of 626 | #8 of 89 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.7% | #28 of 626 | #8 of 89 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 89.6% | #30 of 626 | #15 of 89 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 507 | #284 of 709 | #52 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.7:1 | #9 of 655 | #7 of 93 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 41.2% | #389 of 658 | #45 of 94 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 22.1% | #669 of 696 | #81 of 96 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.1% | #181 of 364 | #37 of 58 |
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
507
+28 (+6%) vs 2020
-5% since 1990-91, when it was 534
Student : Teacher
12.7:1
was 12.9:1
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 | 507 | 40 | 12.7:1 | 22% (112) |
| 2023-24 | 510 | 34 | 15.0:1 | 25% (128) |
| 2022-23 | 501 | 34 | 14.7:1 | 24% (119) |
| 2020-21 | 479 | 37 | 12.9:1 | 14% (69) |
| 2017-18 | 577 | 39.3 | 14.7:1 | 23% (130) |
| 2015-16 | 544 | 36 | 15.1:1 | 22% (119) |
| 2010-11 | 588 | 47 | 12.5:1 | 28% (164) |
| 2000-01 | 411 | 37 | 11.1:1 | 19% (77) |
| 1990-91 | 534 | 31 | 17.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Shades Cahaba Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (577 to 507); teachers up 2% (39.3 to 40).
About Shades Cahaba Elementary School
Shades Cahaba Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school in Homewood, Alabama, one of the schools in Homewood City. Students in kindergarten through 5 attend the school, which enrolls 507 students.
Shades Cahaba Elementary School is one of 5 schools in Homewood City, which enrolls 4,492 students in total.
White students are the majority at Shades Cahaba Elementary School, with 76% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 9% Black, 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 3% Asian. Among all residents of Jefferson County, the White share is about 48%. Pick two students at random and there is a 41% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
At Shades Cahaba Elementary School, 40 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 12.7:1. That is lower than the 17.0:1 average for elementary schools in Alabama. Roughly 22% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That is 30 points below the 52% average for public schools in Jefferson County.
Shades Cahaba Elementary School is graded A by allk12, scoring above 92% of Alabama public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Compared with Alabama schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Shades Cahaba Elementary School's results are 13.9 points above predicted: 81.8% against 67.9%.
Census Bureau estimates for Jefferson County show that the median household income is $66,388, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 36% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. There are 181 public schools in Jefferson County, enrolling about 97,401 students in all.
The closest public school to Shades Cahaba Elementary School is Jefferson County Virtual School, about 0.8 miles away. Shades Cahaba Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 66.1%, lower than Shades Cahaba Elementary School's 81.8%.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 507, a 6% gain from 479 in 2020-21.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Shades Cahaba Elementary School, you can post them here. 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 Homewood City
- Homewood High SchoolHigh · 1,333 students
- Homewood Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,000 students
- Edgewood Elementary SchoolElementary · 935 students
- Hall Kent Elementary SchoolElementary · 717 students
Other schools in Homewood
- Homewood High SchoolHigh · 1,333 students
- Homewood Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,000 students
- Edgewood Elementary SchoolElementary · 935 students
- Hall Kent Elementary SchoolElementary · 717 students
Nearby schools
- Jefferson County Virtual School0.8 mi · 247
- Mountain Brook Elementary School1.0 mi · 551
- Homewood High School1.2 mi · 1,333
- Edgewood Elementary School1.4 mi · 935
- Homewood Middle School1.4 mi · 1,000
- Ramsay High School1.5 mi · 762
Frequently asked questions
About Shades Cahaba Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Shades Cahaba Elementary School?
Shades Cahaba Elementary School enrolls approximately 507 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Shades Cahaba Elementary School serve?
Shades Cahaba Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Shades Cahaba Elementary School have?
Shades Cahaba Elementary School employs 40 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.7:1.
What is the student diversity at Shades Cahaba Elementary School?
Student demographics at Shades Cahaba Elementary School are roughly 76% White, 8% Hispanic, 9% Black, 3% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Shades Cahaba Elementary School public or private?
Shades Cahaba Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Homewood City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.