One in 14 Alabama Students Is Now an English Learner
Alabama's English learner population has nearly quadrupled since 2015, from 13,793 to 51,068 students, reshaping classrooms from the poultry corridor to Birmingham.
Yellowhammer State Education Coverage, Driven by Data
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Alabama, grounded in Alabama Department of Education data.
Alabama's three fastest-growing districts owe their growth to statewide virtual schools run by Pearson and Stride, not local enrollment gains.
The graduation rate for Alabama students who are English learners rose from 67.9% to 83.3% in two years, the fastest gain of any subgroup and an all-time high.
Fifty-one Alabama districts hit record-low enrollment in 2025-26, including the four largest. The decline spans urban, rural, and suburban systems.
Montgomery County's graduation rate crashed 17 points in 2023, the largest single-year district drop in Alabama. Two years later, it has recovered only partially.
Alabama's English learner population has nearly quadrupled since 2015, from 13,793 to 51,068 students, reshaping classrooms from the poultry corridor to Birmingham.
Alabama's gap between graduation rate and college/career readiness collapsed from 49 points to 4 over a decade, one of the most dramatic diploma quality improvements in any state.
If pre-pandemic trends had held, Alabama would have 746,099 students. Instead it has 714,363, and the gap widens every year.
Alabama's foster care graduation rate fell from 77% in 2019 to 62% in 2025, the only subgroup with a net decline while every other group improved.
Eleven rural Alabama districts have lost 40% of their enrollment since 2015. Perry County alone is down 57.7%, and the funding formula makes the spiral worse.
Birmingham City's graduation rate has barely moved in a decade (79.4% in 2015, 81.0% in 2025) while the state improved by nearly 5 points around it.
Alabama's graduation rate hit 91.56% in 2025 (second-highest ever) after a 2.5-point dip in 2023 when COVID-era supports expired.
Nine districts have declined every single year since 2015, losing up to 58% of their students. Seven sit in the Black Belt.
Nine of Alabama's 16 student subgroups hit all-time graduation rate highs in 2025, spanning race, gender, poverty, disability, and housing status.
Alabama's largest district has declined for 10 straight years, shedding 11,829 students since 2016. No year in the streak brought a gain.
28 of 138 Alabama districts have regained pre-pandemic enrollment. The state as a whole remains 25,755 students below its fall 2019 headcount and is still falling.