Photo by Jon Anderson
All but one Hoover school received an A on their 2023 state report card issued by the Alabama Department of Education and released Thursday.
Fifteen of the 16 schools in the city’s public school system earned an A this year, while Hoover High School’s score dropped from 90 to 89 — just .24 percentage points less than needed to get an A, Hoover’s Chief Academic Officer Chris Robbins told the Hoover school board Thursday night.
The district’s overall score was 93 for the second year in a row. Twelve of Hoover’s 16 schools saw their overall score increase for 2023, while two schools' scores remained the same. Six of Hoover's schools had a 98 or 99.
“The things we have going on here are amazing,” new Superintendent Kevin Maddox said. “I am very excited, even after three months in this role, to know our trend line is moving in the right direction.”
Maddox said there’s a very intentional effort on the part of Hoover City Schools staff to look at achievement data continuously, and employees are working hard to help students grow and succeed.
“These things do not happen by accident,” Maddox said. “Every child in this district is benefitting from the work that’s being done in our schools.”
The fact that every Hoover school received an A last year and 15 of 16 schools received an A this year is amazing, “especially when you consider the free and reduced lunch rate we have in our district and the challenges we have,” Maddox said. “Our people are doing phenomenal work, and I’m extremely proud of them.”
The state of Alabama evaluates every school and school district on a comprehensive set of criteria, including achievement and learning growth measured by state achievement tests, attendance, English language proficiency, college and career readiness, and graduation rates.
The district’s overall academic achievement score, reflecting achievement in English and math, increased from 84.68 to 89.32. Elementary school achievement scores were up by 4 percentage points, while middle school achievement scores increased by 7 percentage points and high school achievement scores were up by 4 percentage points.
One factor to consider is that while most of the data used by the state to determine 2023 grades comes from the 2022-23 school year, the college and career ready scores and graduation rates used for the 2023 grade come from two years ago, Robbins said.
Both Hoover and Spain Park high schools saw the percentage of their students deemed college and career ready in at least one area fall. Hoover High’s college and career readiness score fell from 86 to 83, and Spain Park’s college and career readiness score fell from 87 to 85. However, the latest data for college and career readiness showed Hoover’s score climb to 90 and Spain Park’s score climb to 92, Robbins said. Those increases, which are encouraging, won’t be reflected until the 2024 state report card, he said.
Both Hoover and Spain Park’s graduation rates also have risen with more recent data, with 96% of Hoover’s students graduating within four years of high school and 95% of Spain Park’s students doing so, Robbins said.
If the more recent data for those two categories had been used, Hoover High School would have had an overall grade of 91, and Spain Park High would have had an overall grade of 93, Robbins said. The district’s overall grade would have climbed two more percentage points to 95, he said.
Robbins also noted that all of Hoover’s Title 1 schools — schools with more students from low-income families — received an A. “I can’t overemphasize what a remarkable achievement that is,” he said.
School board member Alan Paquette asked Robbins if there is any particular area where Hoover can achieve the greatest strides. Robbins said he would like to see Hoover schools improve all six of the areas scored, but he noted that Hoover’s rate of absenteeism rose this year. The state calculates the percentage of students who miss 18 or more days of school and considers those to be “chronic absenteeism” rates. The Hoover district’s chronic absenteeism rate increased from 7.06% in 2022 to 8.48% in 2023.
School board member Craig Kelley asked how Hoover’s minority students are doing, and Robbins said Hoover’s minority students in many cases are showing higher academic growth than majority (white) students. That means the achievement gap between majority and minority students is shrinking, he said. There will be newer data available in January to see if that trend is continuing, he said.
Data from Hoover City Schools
More detail about each school's state report card can be seen on the Alabama Department of Education website.
In other business Thursday night, the Hoover school board:
- Hired Blalock Building Co. to build a two-story storage and restroom facility for the athletic complex at Bumpus Middle School for $1.5 million
- Hired Premier Service Co. to install new lights at the Hoover High School softball field and Spain Park High School baseball field for $229,331
- Approved a new beverage supply contract with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Central
- Recognized Trace Crossings Elementary math interventionist Jenny McCune, Trace Crossings reading interventionist Jennifer Norris, Spain Park High math teacher Jim Reinsch and Riverchase Elementary math coach Michele Ross as the longest-serving teachers in the Hoover school system, each with 36 years of service
- Recognized the transportation staff for receiving a perfect 100 score on their annual state inspection for the seventh year in a row
- Recognized Hoover and Spain Park High School for making the 2023 Advanced Placement Honor Roll for demonstrating a consistent track record of delivering outstanding results in their AP programs. Hoover High students took 980 AP exams last year in 26 subjects and received a passing score of 3 or higher on 71% of those exams, Hoover High AP coordinator Sydney White said. Meanwhile, Spain Park had 356 students take 767 AP exams last year, and 85% of those students had a qualifying score of 3 or higher, Principal Amanda Esslinger said.
- Recognized the Hoover High School marching band for winning the 7A state championship in October and earning outstanding color guard and outstanding musical achievement awards
- Recognized Deer Valley Elementary teacher Lori Deavers and Shades Mountain Elementary teacher Kimberly Gurganus for becoming certified academic language therapists for their work in structured language intervention for students with dyslexia
