Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools
A Hoover police officer reads to children at a Hoover elementary school.
For the second year in a row, the Hoover school district earned a 95 on its report card from the Alabama Department of Education (for the 2024-25 school year),
This places Hoover in the top 8% of school districts in Alabama, Hoover Assistant Superintendent Chris Robbins told the Hoover school board Tuesday night.
Twelve of Hoover’s 16 schools earned a 95 or higher (placing them in the top 12% in the state), while six schools scored a 99 or higher (placing them in the top 4% in the state), and two schools (Brock’s Gap Intermediate and South Shades Crest Elementary) earned the highest possible score of 100. Only 19 schools in the state earned a 100, Robbins said.
Only one Hoover school had a score lower than 90, and that was Hoover High, whose score dropped from 89 to 84.
The state report card grades schools based on academic achievement, growth, graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, English learner proficiency and college and career readiness.
The Hoover district’s academic achievement score rose slightly from 90.89 to 91.1, while the academic growth score remained a strong 100. The Hoover district’s graduation rate dropped just slightly from 94.76% to 94.37%, while chronic absenteeism improved from 7.95% to 7.07%.
The percentage of English language learners who were deemed proficient fell slightly from 61.68% to 58.31%, while the percentage of students who were deemed ready for college or a career rose slightly from 90.78% to 91.74%.
Data from Alabama Department of Education
Data courtesy of Hoover City Schools
To see more details for each individual school, go to statereportcard.alsde.edu/SelectSchool.aspx.
I-Ready Fall Diagnostic Tests
Robbins also shared with the Hoover school board Tuesday night that fall tests showed academic improvement for Hoover’s K-8 students in reading and math from the fall of 2024. The percentage of Hoover K-8 students deemed on grade level in reading increased from 66% to 67%, and the number of K-8 students deemed on grade level in math increased from 69% to 70%.
The percentage of students needing intervention in reading fell from 14% to 13%, while the percentage needing intervention in math remained the same at 13%, Robbins said. The achievement gap between white and black students narrowed from 22 percentage points in reading to 19 percentage points, and the achievement gap in math narrowed from 28 percentage points to 25 percentage points.
“What this shows is that our students are coming in slightly stronger than the fall previous,” Robbins said.
COVID-19 Recovery
Furthermore, a follow-up study by Harvard and Stanford universities showed that Hoover students continue to outpace the nation in recovery from learning losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Robbins said.
The national study showed that, as of the spring of 2024, the average student nationally was still six months behind in their current grade level, whereas Hoover students had improved their performance standing and fully recovered, Robbins said. In 2019, Hoover students were more than a year and two months ahead of the rest of the nation in reading and math, but in 2024, Hoover students were about a year and 10 months ahead of the rest of the nation, improving their performance by seven or eight months from 2019 levels, according to data Robbins presented.
Only 6% of school districts tested nationally (102 school districts) have fully recovered from the pandemic in both reading and math, and Hoover is among those, he said. The Hoover school district ranked 27th in reading proficiency and 29th in math proficiency among those 102 districts, Robbins said.
“This is really exciting news. What’s great is when, internally, our data is showing that our students are growing and our students are achieving — that they’re making gains,” Robbins said. “But it’s always great when Harvard and Stanford come and tell you through their research that things are going well and we’re doing things right for our students in Hoover City Schools.”
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement, Robbins said. Hoover school officials in particular will be targeting ways to improve performance for students who are still learning the English language and performance at the high schools, he said.
“It’s really calculated to where it does not favor large, diverse high schools, so we’re looking at ways we can address that specifically in terms of chronic absenteeism, EL and also ACT growth,” Robbins said.
Specifically, the last two years, school officials have been focused on math in grades 6-12, he said.
“We have a lot to celebrate. We’re not done yet,” Robbins said. “We wont’ be finished . We’re continuing to push our students. We have fantastic students, fantastic teachers and fantastic leaders in our school district. Things are looking very positive.”
Superintendent Kevin Maddox echoed that Hoover school officials are never satisfied with where things are. “This school district is fantastic. It’s been that way for a while, but as you can see, we’re incrementally trying to find ways to get better each year. It doesn’t happen haphazardly and by accident. It’s very strategic.”
Maddox said he’s been involved in a lot of meetings where educators are looking at recent, relevant data by school, by teacher and by subject.
“That’s what should drive everything that we do, and it does, and I’m thankful for it,” Maddox said. “I’m really pleased with where we are and where we’re going.”
Maddox thanked the school board for its support in providing interventionists and additional help in special education.
