Enrollment
277
Elementary
DISTRICT 327 · STATE 480
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BESSEMER CITY·NCES 010033000090
Westhills Elementary School
710 Glenn Rd, Bessemer, AL 35022 · (205) 432-3500 · Jefferson County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL277 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 5% 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
17.3:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.4:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
74%
205 students
DISTRICT 78% · 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 | 16 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 48 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 40 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 45 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 42 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 41 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (48) is 17% larger than its 5th grade class (41).
Student demographics
26%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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Westhills Elementary School→Bessemer City Middle School
Based on grade levels within Bessemer City. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ACAP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
37.8%
AL avg 52.7%
Math
11.4%
AL avg 31.8%
What this means: On the ACAP, Alabama's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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
23.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
30.2%
based on AL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 30% 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 Westhills Elementary School
Westhills Elementary School's state test result (23.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westhills Elementary School this school | 277 | 74.0% | 23.4% |
| King Elementary Montgomery | 293 | 76.1% | 24.1% |
| Norwood Elementary School Birmingham | 261 | 77.8% | 30.1% |
| Evergreen Elementary School Evergreen | 342 | 76.9% | 33.9% |
| Abrams Elementary School Bessemer | 231 | 79.2% | 27.9% |
| Central Elementary School Tuscaloosa | 291 | 78.7% | 33.7% |
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 Westhills Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alabama | In Jefferson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.4% | #575 of 626 | #77 of 89 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.4% | #596 of 626 | #81 of 89 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 37.8% | #563 of 626 | #75 of 89 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 277 | #594 of 709 | #86 of 97 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.3:1 | #373 of 655 | #47 of 93 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.9% | #525 of 658 | #67 of 94 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 74.0% | #169 of 696 | #36 of 96 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.5% | #82 of 364 | #21 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
277
-29 (-9%) vs 2020
-38% since 1990-91, when it was 445
Student : Teacher
17.3:1
was 18.0:1
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 | 277 | 16 | 17.3:1 | 74% (205) |
| 2023-24 | 297 | 17 | 17.5:1 | 75% (222) |
| 2022-23 | 315 | 14 | 22.5:1 | 75% (236) |
| 2020-21 | 306 | 17 | 18.0:1 | 79% (241) |
| 2017-18 | 353 | 19 | 18.6:1 | 79% (278) |
| 2015-16 | 331 | 20 | 16.6:1 | 64% (213) |
| 2010-11 | 405 | 30 | 13.5:1 | 82% (332) |
| 2000-01 | 482 | 29 | 16.6:1 | 69% (334) |
| 1990-91 | 445 | 27 | 16.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Westhills Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (353 to 277); teachers down 16% (19 to 16).
About Westhills Elementary School
Westhills Elementary School is the name of a small elementary school in Bessemer, Alabama. Its 277 students are spread across pre-K through 5. The school's enrollment is 42% smaller than the 480 average for elementary schools in Alabama.
Westhills Elementary School is one school in Bessemer City, a system of 7 schools with 3,012 students.
Federal enrollment data show Westhills Elementary School is 85% Black. Other groups make up 12% Hispanic. Jefferson County as a whole is about 42% Black, so the school's share is higher. The school's diversity index is 26%, meaning two students picked at random have a 26% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
With 16 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, the ratio at Westhills Elementary School was 17.3:1. That matches the 17.0:1 average for elementary schools in Alabama fairly closely. Westhills Elementary School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 74%. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Jefferson County is 52%.
Westhills Elementary School is graded D by allk12, scoring above 5% of Alabama public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
A school with Westhills Elementary School's lunch-eligibility share in Alabama is predicted to score 30.2%. Westhills Elementary School scores 23.4%, 6.8 points below that line.
Among Jefferson County residents, the median household income is $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%. Westhills Elementary School is one of 181 public schools in the county.
The nearest other public school, Bessemer City Middle School, is about 0.8 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Westhills Elementary School places 4th out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Large: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Westhills Elementary School's enrollment dropped from 306 in 2020-21 to 277 in 2024-25.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Westhills Elementary School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Bessemer City
- Bessemer City High SchoolHigh · 760 students
- Bessemer City Middle SchoolMiddle · 616 students
- Jonesboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 474 students
- Charles F Hard Elementary SchoolElementary · 364 students
- Greenwood Elementary SchoolElementary · 290 students
- Abrams Elementary SchoolElementary · 231 students
Other schools in Bessemer
- Oak Grove High SchoolHigh · 777 students
- Bessemer City High SchoolHigh · 760 students
- McCalla Elementary SchoolElementary · 752 students
- Bessemer City Middle SchoolMiddle · 616 students
- Oak Grove Elementary SchoolElementary · 576 students
- Jonesboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 474 students
Other Westhills Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Westhills Elementary. Westhills Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Westhills ElementaryLewisburg, TN · 561 students
Nearby schools
- Bessemer City Middle School0.8 mi · 616
- Bessemer City High School1.2 mi · 760
- Jonesboro Elementary School1.3 mi · 474
- Empower Community School Upper Campus1.6 mi · 211
- Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School1.9 mi · 161
- Abrams Elementary School2.6 mi · 231
Frequently asked questions
About Westhills Elementary SchoolHow large is Westhills Elementary School?
Westhills Elementary School enrolls approximately 277 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Westhills Elementary School serve?
Westhills Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Westhills Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Westhills Elementary School is approximately 17.3:1 (16 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Westhills Elementary School?
At Westhills Elementary School, the student body is approximately 1% White, 12% Hispanic, 85% Black, 1% Two or more.
Is Westhills Elementary School public or private?
Westhills Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bessemer City.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.