The 20 best public elementary schools in Alabama (2015-2016)

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November 23, 2015

Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Mountain Brooks, Ala. (Photo: Wikicommons)

Niche, a site that seeks to “make choosing a neighborhood, college, or K-12 school a more transparent process” by “providing reviews and insight from everyday experts,” is out with a new list of the top elementary schools in Alabama, and it looks like a handful of communities are dominating. Multiple schools in Mountain Brook, Homewood, Madison, Hoover and Auburn make up 19 of the top 20, with one Vestavia Hills school rounding out the list.

“The 2016 Best Public Elementary Schools ranking provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall experience of a public elementary school,” Niche explains. “This grade takes into account key factors such as the strength of academics, quality of teachers, diversity, as well as the overall quality of the school district.”

Niche considers the following factors when compiling its rankings:

Academics grade (50% of total score), District overall experience grade (20%), teachers grade (20%) and student culture and diversity grade (10%).

“Our rankings are different, and for good reason,” writes Niche. “We believe that the quality of a school or district should be measured, at least in part, by the parents and students who actually go there. They should also be measured by hard data and across a number of key factors so that no one factor dominates a ranking. Most importantly, they should be measured by their results. The most unique thing about our rankings is that they incorporate student outcomes.”

The top 20 public elementary schools in Alabama can be found below. The full list can be seen over at Niche.

1. Cherokee Bend Elementary School (Mountain Brook)
2. Shades Cahaba Elementary School (Homewood)
3. Crestline Elementary School (Mountain Brook)
4. Brookwood Forest Elementary School (Mountain Brook)
5. Edgewood Elementary School (Homewood)
6. Mountain Brook Elementary School (Mountain Brook)
7. Madison Elementary School (Madison)
8. Cary Woods Elementary School (Auburn)
9. Mill Creek Elementary School (Madison)
10. Hall Kent Elementary School (Homewood)
11. West Madison Elementary School (Madison)
12. Green Valley Elementary School (Hoover)
13. Rainbow Elementary School (Madison)
14. Dean Road Elementary School (Auburn)
15. Heritage Elementary School (Madison)
16. Horizon Elementary School (Madison)
17. Deer Valley Elementary School (Hoover)
18. Ogletree School (Auburn)
19. Liberty Park Elementary School (Vestavia Hills)
20. Columbia Elementary School (Madison)