Alabama Connections Academy
Athens · AL · Limestone County · Public · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Limestone County Area Vocational Technology → Athens High School → James Clemens High School → Bob Jones High School → Sparkman High School → Long Term Case → Career Technical Center → Allen Thornton Career Technical Center →At a glance
- 9 AP courses offered — Elite
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- Gifted & talented program
- 1 calculus classes · 2 physics · 6 chemistry
- AP rigor: 73rd percentile nationally
- SAT/ACT participation: 94th percentile by test-taker volume
- 4-yr grad rate: 79% in 2019 (Bottom 26% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Alabama Connections Academy compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 73rd percentile nationally with 9 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyAL trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−10 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Limestone County Area Vocational Technology, Athens High School, James Clemens High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
73rd percentile nationally
Gifted/talented program
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-2194th percentile by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
Bottom 26% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
Federal Title I context
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
Your state's public flagship
The University of Alabama
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $22,420/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +4.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 7,822 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $10,265 per student in district revenue, the 1,879 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $19,287,935/year in additional funding.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone County Area Vocational Technology Athens |
Public | 7.2 | — | — |
| Athens High School Athens |
Public | 6.2 | 1,278 | +14.0% |
| James Clemens High School Madison |
Public | 17.7 | 2,159 | +0.8% |
| Bob Jones High School Madison |
Public | 19.6 | 2,048 | +6.8% |
| Sparkman High School Harvest |
Public | 18.8 | 1,770 | +0.5% |
| Long Term Case Decatur |
Public | 18.1 | — | — |
| Career Technical Center Decatur |
Public | 19.2 | — | — |
| Allen Thornton Career Technical Center Killen |
Public | 22.5 | — | — |