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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Walter M Kennedy School administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
437
Elementary
DISTRICT 337 · STATE 480
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PELL CITY·NCES 010265001722
Walter M Kennedy School
250 Otis Perry Dr, Pell City, AL 35128 · (205) 338-7896 · St. Clair County
GRADES KG–04ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL437 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 87% 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.
- ABeats 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
17.5:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.5:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
61%
268 students
DISTRICT 64% · 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 | 89 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 87 | 20% |
| Grade 2 | 80 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 93 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 88 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (89) is about the same size as its 4th grade class (88).
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 40% · 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
70.5%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
57.4%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 71 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of AL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
62.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
39.4%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+22.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 39% typical for Alabama schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 23 points, placing it in Alabama's top 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 Walter M Kennedy School
Walter M Kennedy School's state test result (62.2% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter M Kennedy School this school | 437 | 61.3% | 62.2% |
| Ashland Elementary School Ashland | 455 | 62.4% | 55.1% |
| Geneva County Elementary School Hartford | 474 | 57.6% | 68.8% |
| Coosa Valley Elementary School Cropwell | 404 | 57.2% | 69.5% |
| Cottonwood Elementary School Cottonwood | 502 | 61.0% | 59.6% |
| Fayette Elementary School Fayette | 529 | 60.7% | 48.4% |
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 Walter M Kennedy School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In St. Clair County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 62.2% | #156 of 626 | #5 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 57.4% | #132 of 626 | #3 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 70.5% | #217 of 626 | #6 of 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 437 | #390 of 709 | #5 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.5:1 | #397 of 655 | #7 of 10 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 41.4% | #387 of 658 | #6 of 10 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 61.3% | #325 of 696 | #3 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.4% | #188 of 364 | N/A |
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
437
+18 (+4%) vs 2020
-34% since 1990-91, when it was 658
Student : Teacher
17.5:1
was 14.0:1
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 | 437 | 25 | 17.5:1 | 61% (268) |
| 2023-24 | 456 | 27 | 16.9:1 | 64% (293) |
| 2022-23 | 454 | 26 | 17.5:1 | 65% (296) |
| 2020-21 | 419 | 30 | 14.0:1 | 55% (232) |
| 2017-18 | 493 | 29.5 | 16.7:1 | 56% (278) |
| 2015-16 | 429 | 24 | 17.9:1 | 56% (239) |
| 2010-11 | 584 | 37 | 15.8:1 | 57% (331) |
| 2000-01 | 588 | 43 | 13.7:1 | 50% (292) |
| 1990-91 | 658 | 29 | 22.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Walter M Kennedy School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (493 to 437); teachers down 15% (29.5 to 25).
About Walter M Kennedy School
Students in Pell City, Alabama, attend Walter M Kennedy School, a mid-sized elementary school. The school enrolls 437 students in kindergarten through 4.
Pell City has 4,079 students in 8 schools, and Walter M Kennedy School is one of those schools.
At Walter M Kennedy School, 74% of students are White. The remaining students are 17% Black, 5% multiracial, and 2% Hispanic. Census figures show St. Clair County is about 84% White. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 41%.
Walter M Kennedy School reported 25 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, a ratio of 17.5:1. The average for elementary schools in Alabama is about 17.0:1. Roughly 61% of students at Walter M Kennedy School can receive free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in St. Clair County average 49%.
Among Alabama public elementary schools, Walter M Kennedy School outscored 87%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Walter M Kennedy School would score about 39.4%. It scores 62.2%, a top-10% result among Alabama schools on BeatsExpectations.
Looking at the county, St. Clair County, the median household earns about $77,463 a year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 8% of people live in poverty. St. Clair County has 29 public schools with about 13,737 students, including Walter M Kennedy School.
About 0.6 miles separate Walter M Kennedy School from the closest public school, Williams Intermediate School. Within five miles are 7 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Walter M Kennedy School places 2nd out of 7 schools in its immediate area.
The federal government classifies Walter M Kennedy School's location as Town: Distant.
From 419 students in 2020-21, enrollment increased to 437 by 2024-25. The school's ratio increased from 14.0:1 to 17.5:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
This page collects posts and questions about Walter M Kennedy School, such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.
St. Clair County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
94,166
Census ACS
Median income
$77,463
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
29
13,737 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Pell City
- Pell City High SchoolHigh · 1,193 students
- Duran Junior High SchoolMiddle · 601 students
- Williams Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 598 students
- Coosa Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 404 students
- Iola Roberts Elementary SchoolElementary · 402 students
- Eden Elementary SchoolElementary · 346 students
Other schools in Pell City
- Pell City High SchoolHigh · 1,193 students
- Duran Junior High SchoolMiddle · 601 students
- Williams Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 598 students
- Iola Roberts Elementary SchoolElementary · 402 students
- Eden Elementary SchoolElementary · 346 students
- Legacy CenterElementary · 98 students
Nearby schools
- Williams Intermediate School0.6 mi · 598
- Legacy Center1.3 mi · 98
- Coosa Valley Elementary School1.6 mi · 404
- Duran Junior High School1.9 mi · 601
- Pell City High School1.9 mi · 1,193
- Iola Roberts Elementary School2.5 mi · 402
Frequently asked questions
About Walter M Kennedy SchoolHow many students attend Walter M Kennedy School?
Walter M Kennedy School enrolls approximately 437 students in grades KG-04.
What grades does Walter M Kennedy School serve?
Walter M Kennedy School serves grades KG-04.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Walter M Kennedy School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Walter M Kennedy School is approximately 17.5:1 (25 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Walter M Kennedy School?
At Walter M Kennedy School, the student body is approximately 74% White, 2% Hispanic, 17% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Walter M Kennedy School public or private?
Walter M Kennedy School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Pell City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.