MOBILE, Ala. — Three Mobile County elementary schools landed in Alabama’s top 10 and four of the district’s middle schools placed among the state’s top 25 in the newly released 2027 Best K-8 Schools rankings, giving families an updated look at the Alabama K-8 school rankings in a national list that measures how hundreds of Alabama elementary and middle schools compare on reading and math performance.
The 2027 Best K-8 Schools rankings, released this week, cover roughly 46,000 public elementary schools across the country. Each school is ranked against others in its own state and, where a district has at least three eligible schools, against schools in its own district. For Alabama families, the list offers a fresh look at which campuses are holding steady, which are climbing and which slipped compared with last year.
At the top of the elementary list, Forest Avenue Elementary School in Montgomery County kept its hold on the No. 1 spot in Alabama. In the middle school rankings, there was a change at the top: Tuscaloosa Magnet School Middle moved up from No. 9 in 2026 to No. 1 for 2027, displacing last year’s leader, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, which slipped to No. 2.
Mobile County schools stand out in Alabama K-8 rankings
Mobile County Public Schools, the largest school system in Alabama, had one of the strongest showings of any district in the state.
Three of the 10 highest-ranked elementary schools in Alabama are in Mobile County:
- Eichold-Mertz School of Math and Science — No. 2 in Alabama
- W.H. Council Traditional School — No. 3 in Alabama
- Old Shell Road Magnet School — No. 7 in Alabama
All three are among the magnet and specialty programs the Mobile County system operates. Magnet schools in the district draw students from across the county through an application process rather than strictly by neighborhood attendance zone, and they typically center their instruction around a specific theme or approach, such as math and science or a traditional, structured academic model.
Mobile County also led the state in middle school representation. The district placed more middle schools in Alabama’s top 25 than any other system, with four campuses making the cut:
- Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies
- Clark-Shaw Magnet School
- Phillips Preparatory Middle School
- Denton Magnet School of Technology
Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies occupies the historic Barton Academy building on Government Street in downtown Mobile, a Greek Revival landmark that served as one of Alabama’s earliest public school buildings before it was restored and reopened as a school focused on global studies and world languages. Clark-Shaw and Denton are magnet schools with an emphasis on science, math and technology, while Phillips Preparatory is a long-established Mobile middle school known for its accelerated academic program.
For families in Mobile County, the results are a reminder that the system’s choice programs continue to perform near the top of the state on standardized measures. Parents interested in magnet admissions generally apply through the district during an annual application window, and the district publishes deadlines and eligibility requirements on its website each school year.
Forest Avenue Elementary holds the top elementary spot
Forest Avenue Elementary School, a Montgomery Public Schools campus, again ranked as Alabama’s highest-performing elementary school. Holding the No. 1 position in consecutive years is notable because the methodology rewards not only high test scores but also strong results relative to what would be expected given a school’s student population.
Hoover City Schools, in suburban Birmingham, placed more elementary schools in the state’s top 25 than any other district. Four Hoover campuses made the list:
- Greystone Elementary School
- Bluff Park Elementary School
- Shades Mountain Elementary School
- Brocks Gap Intermediate School
Hoover is one of several city school systems in the Birmingham metro area that have historically ranked well on state assessments and in national school comparisons.
Kilby Laboratory School makes the biggest jump
One of the most dramatic changes in this year’s Alabama rankings came from Florence in north Alabama. Kilby Laboratory School climbed from No. 91 in last year’s state elementary rankings to No. 4 for 2027 — a leap of 87 places.
Kilby is a laboratory school operated by the University of North Alabama. Laboratory schools are connected to a university’s teacher-preparation program, giving future educators a place to observe and practice teaching while serving a regular population of young students. Kilby is widely described as one of the few remaining university-operated laboratory schools of its kind in the state.
Large swings like Kilby’s are not unusual in rankings built on a single year of test data, particularly for smaller schools, where the results of a relatively small group of students can move a school’s overall score significantly from one year to the next.
Middle school rankings: Tuscaloosa rises, Jefferson County IB slips
On the middle school side, Tuscaloosa Magnet School Middle, part of Tuscaloosa City Schools, rose eight places to claim the top position in Alabama. The school ranked No. 9 in the 2026 rankings.
Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, located in the Birmingham area and operated by the Jefferson County school system, had held the No. 1 spot last year. It remains near the top of the state, now ranked No. 2. The school follows the International Baccalaureate framework, a globally recognized academic program that emphasizes inquiry-based learning, writing and international perspectives.
Together with Mobile County’s four top-25 schools, the list shows that magnet, specialty and choice-based programs make up a large share of Alabama’s highest-ranked middle schools.
How Alabama charter schools fared
The rankings also included Alabama’s elementary charter schools, a relatively new category of public school in the state. Alabama lawmakers authorized public charter schools in 2015, and the number of charter campuses has grown gradually since then.
University Charter School Elementary in Livingston, in Sumter County, was the state’s top-ranked charter elementary school. It placed No. 248 among all Alabama elementary schools. University Charter School is affiliated with the University of West Alabama, which is located in Livingston.
Legacy Prep in Birmingham ranked second among charter elementary schools and No. 362 statewide.
The remaining six charter elementary schools included in the rankings all placed in the bottom quarter of Alabama’s statewide list.
Charter schools in Alabama are public schools that are free to attend and open to all students, but they operate with more flexibility than traditional district schools in exchange for meeting performance goals set out in their charters. Because many of the state’s charter schools are still in their early years, their test results are often based on a smaller number of students and grade levels than those of long-established district schools.
How the Best K-8 Schools rankings work
Understanding the methodology can help parents put a school’s ranking in context.
The 2027 rankings are based on reading and math assessment results from the 2023-24 school year. In Alabama, those results come from the state’s annual standardized tests given to students in the tested elementary and middle school grades. That means the rankings reflect student performance from two school years ago, not the current year.
Each school’s score is divided into two equal parts:
- Overall achievement (50%) — how well students performed on state reading and math assessments.
- Performance relative to expectations (50%) — how students performed compared with what would be expected based on the school’s demographics.
The second half of the formula is designed to give credit to schools whose students outperform predictions, rather than simply rewarding schools that serve more advantaged populations. A school serving many students from low-income households, for example, can rank well if its students score higher than similar schools would be expected to.
Data for the rankings came from state education agencies and was collected by RTI International, a nonprofit research institute based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, along with information from the U.S. Department of Education.
Schools are ranked within their states and, when a district has at least three eligible schools, within their districts as well. Rankings are not designed to compare a school in Alabama directly with a school in another state, because each state uses its own tests and standards.
What parents should keep in mind and what comes next
Education researchers and school leaders often caution that rankings capture only part of what makes a school a good fit for a particular child. Because the list relies on reading and math test scores, it does not measure many factors families care about, including:
- Arts, music and physical education offerings
- Special education and gifted services
- Class sizes and teacher experience
- School climate, safety and parent involvement
- Extracurricular programs and before- and after-school care
Parents who want a fuller picture can review the Alabama State Department of Education’s annual school report cards, which include letter grades for each public school and district, and can schedule visits or attend open houses at schools they are considering. Mobile County Public Schools and the Baldwin County Public Schools system both post school-level information and enrollment details on their websites.
It is also worth noting the time lag. Because the 2027 rankings rely on 2023-24 test data, changes made at a school since then — new leadership, new curriculum or new programs — would not yet show up in the results.
The rankings are released annually, and future editions will incorporate newer assessment data as it becomes available from state education agencies. For Mobile County, the results reinforce the strong standing of the district’s magnet schools at both the elementary and middle school levels, with Eichold-Mertz, Council Traditional and Old Shell Road among the state’s top 10 elementary schools and four Mobile County middle schools among Alabama’s top 25.
Statewide, the list shows continued strength in Montgomery’s Forest Avenue Elementary, a new leader among middle schools in Tuscaloosa Magnet School Middle, a remarkable rise for Kilby Laboratory School in Florence and a mixed picture for the state’s still-developing charter school sector.
Families can search the full Best K-8 Schools rankings online by school name, district or city to see where their own school placed this year and how it compares with nearby campuses.
