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Best kept secret at Shades Valley High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,094
High
DISTRICT 958 · STATE 682
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·JEFFERSON COUNTY·NCES 010192000744
Shades Valley High School
6100 Old Leeds Rd, Irondale, AL 35210 · (205) 379-5350 · Jefferson County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,094 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 54% of Alabama public high schools
- BTest 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
65 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 17.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
598 students
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 58%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 280 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 238 | 22% |
| Grade 11 | 272 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 304 | 28% |
Student demographics
63%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · 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
28.9%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
28.6%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 29 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
29.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.3%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 29% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 Valley High School
Shades Valley High School's state test result (29.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shades Valley High School this school | 1,094 | 54.7% | 29.5% |
| Columbia High School Huntsville | 916 | 57.5% | 10.6% |
| McAdory High School McCalla | 1,259 | 52.7% | 6.9% |
| Austin High School Decatur | 999 | 56.6% | 32.9% |
| Calera High Calera | 1,018 | 56.9% | 22.0% |
| Lee High School Huntsville | 877 | 59.7% | 20.9% |
Matched among Alabama high 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 Valley High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Jefferson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.5% | #133 of 305 | #12 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 28.6% | #80 of 305 | #8 of 32 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.9% | #165 of 305 | #15 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,094 | #58 of 319 | #9 of 33 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #133 of 307 | #15 of 32 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 62.9% | #37 of 307 | #2 of 32 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.7% | #164 of 317 | #19 of 33 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.2% | #54 of 164 | #6 of 15 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,094
-117 (-10%) vs 2020
+6% since 1990-91, when it was 1,034
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 17.6:1
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 | 1,094 | 65 | 16.8:1 | 55% (598) |
| 2023-24 | 1,122 | 66.5 | 16.9:1 | 66% (736) |
| 2022-23 | 1,200 | 59.5 | 20.2:1 | 68% (816) |
| 2020-21 | 1,211 | 69 | 17.6:1 | 57% (693) |
| 2017-18 | 1,338 | 71.5 | 18.7:1 | 46% (621) |
| 2015-16 | 1,315 | 78 | 16.9:1 | 45% (593) |
| 2010-11 | 1,389 | 94 | 14.8:1 | 47% (652) |
| 2000-01 | 1,151 | 72 | 16.0:1 | 8% (96) |
| 1990-91 | 1,034 | 52 | 19.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Shades Valley High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (1,338 to 1,094); teachers down 9% (71.5 to 65).
About Shades Valley High School
Shades Valley High School, a large high school, is located in Irondale, Alabama. It offers grades 9 through 12 and has 1,094 students enrolled. It has 60% more students than the average for high schools in Alabama (about 682).
Jefferson County (55 schools, 35,444 students) runs Shades Valley High School.
The largest group at Shades Valley High School is Black students, at 52%. Smaller groups are 26% Hispanic, 18% White, and 3% multiracial. County-wide, 42% of Jefferson County residents are Black. The diversity index for Shades Valley High School is 63%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
On staff are 65 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 16.8:1. The 17.2:1 average for high schools in Alabama is close to this figure. Shades Valley High School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 55%.
On the allk12 Grade, Shades Valley High School lands at B-, ahead of 54% of Alabama public high schools.
After adjusting for student poverty, Shades Valley High School lands between the top and bottom 10% of Alabama schools. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 29.5%; the prediction is 44.3%.
The county, Jefferson County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to about $66,388, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 36% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. The county's public schools total 181, with about 97,401 students.
Irondale Middle School is about 0.2 miles from Shades Valley High School, the shortest distance to any other public school. The five-mile area around Shades Valley High School holds at least 8 other public schools. Among 9 nearby schools that report test results, Shades Valley High School ranks 5th on proficiency.
Federal data place Shades Valley High School in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Shades Valley High School had a net loss of 117 students, or 10%.
The discussion board for Shades Valley High School is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Jefferson County
- ClayChalkville High SchoolHigh · 1,377 students
- McAdory High SchoolHigh · 1,259 students
- Hueytown High SchoolHigh · 1,200 students
- Gardendale High SchoolHigh · 1,076 students
- Pinson Valley High SchoolHigh · 1,025 students
- Minor High SchoolHigh · 978 students
Other schools in Irondale
- Irondale Community SchoolElementary · 435 students
- Irondale Middle SchoolMiddle · 430 students
Nearby schools
- Irondale Middle School0.2 mi · 430
- Grantswood Community School1.1 mi · 394
- Irondale Community School2.4 mi · 435
- WE Putnam Middle SchoolMagnet2.8 mi · 184
- Christian School3.0 mi · 574
- Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School3.3 mi · 330
Frequently asked questions
About Shades Valley High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Shades Valley High School?
Shades Valley High School enrolls approximately 1,094 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Shades Valley High School serve?
Shades Valley High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Shades Valley High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Shades Valley High School is approximately 16.8:1 (65 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Shades Valley High School?
Student demographics at Shades Valley High School are roughly 18% White, 26% Hispanic, 52% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Shades Valley High School public or private?
Shades Valley High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Jefferson County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.