ALABAMA (WKRG) — The Alabama Department of Education released its annual report card detailing students’ performance in terms of academic achievement, academic growth and graduation rate, while taking a look at the proficiency in several school subjects.

WKRG took a look out how students with Mobile County Public Schools have performed during the 2021-22 school year and compared it to the most recent school year that was not affected by COVID-19, 2018-19.

MCPS students received an overall score of 80 for the 2021-22 school year, a few points lower than the 83 overall score following the 2018-19 school year. An overall score was not reported for 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The website reads, “due to the impact of COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) issued a waiver to Alabama on June 9, 2021 waiving the requirement of reporting accountability results for the 2020-2021 school year.”

The website gives a complete breakdown on how each calculation is calculated as well.

Academic Achievement

Academic Achievement is reflective of test results for students in grades who take state-wide tests. Students from third grade to eighth grade take tests in reading and math while fourth, sixth, eighth and 11th grade also take a science test in addition to reading and math.

Academic Growth

Academic growth is a measure of how students progress from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. From the two years WKRG compared, students from the 2020-21 school year experienced greater growth than years past.

Graduation Rate

Graduation rate also seems to be increasing steadily. No numbers were given for the 2019-20 or 2020-21, but MCPS have seen roughly a two-point jump in graduation rate. For this, it is a measure of the percentage of students who graduate with a diploma after entering high school as a ninth-grader.

Another interesting calculation is “chronic absenteeism,” which is determined by “the percent of students in grades K-12 who missed a total of 18 or more days (excused or unexcused) of the time enrolled.” In Mobile County, it is 30.93. For the state of Alabama, it is 17.86.

Proficiency in English language arts, math and science were also given. This is calculated by the “percentage of students with valid scores on the state assessment of ELA [math, science] who scored within proficiency levels three or four.”

From the 2018-19 to 2021-22 school year, proficiency has dropped significantly in all three subjects. The percentages for each and two school years are as follows:

ELA

Math

Science

In the 2018-19 school year, MCPS had 85 schools with 54,229 students. According to the the 2021-22 report, MCPS increased by one school (86) while losing roughly 3,000 students with a total of 51,658.

The state of Alabama received a 84 (B) grade for the 2021-22 school year with a 90.68 graduation rate. Since letter-grade report cards became available in 2017, the state has received a 79, 80, 84 and this year’s 84 grade. You can see how you how you child’s school performed from year-to-year on the state website.