Alabama Graduation Rates: 2023 CrashET · BirminghamET · Black BeltET · CCR GapET · Conecuh · Foster CareET · Gender Gap · Hispanic Gap · Homeless · English LearnersET · MontgomeryET · Nine RecordsET · Phenix City · Special Ed · Race Gap

The graduation rate for students who are currently homeless in Alabama hit 86.3 percent in 2025, the highest mark in the state's 2015-2025 graduation-rate series and 5.2 percentage points below the state average. Four years ago, the rate was 74.3 percent and the gap was 16.4 points.

The 12-point improvement since 2021 is a substantial recovery for a population facing housing instability, frequent school changes, and the kind of daily disruption that can make staying on track to graduate harder.

The trajectory

The graduation rate for students who are currently homeless followed a distinctive pattern: 81.1 percent in 2015, 77.3 percent in 2017, 81.3 percent in 2020, then a collapse to 74.3 percent in 2021, the lowest point in the dataset. The recovery started the next year, but it was uneven: 77.1 percent in 2022, 76.4 percent in 2023, 82.2 percent in 2024 and 86.3 percent in 2025.

The climb from 74.3 percent to 86.3 percent over four years represents sustained improvement, not a single-year anomaly. The rate has increased in three of the four years since the 2021 low.

The gap is closing

The distance between students who are currently homeless and the state average has narrowed from a peak of 16.4 percentage points in 2021 to 5.2 points in 2025. At 5.2 points, the homeless gap is now smaller than the special education gap (13.2pp), smaller than the English learner gap (8.3pp), and vastly smaller than the foster care gap (29.2pp).

A contrast with foster care

The comparison to students in foster care is the most telling data point in this analysis. Both groups face housing instability. Both deal with disrupted home lives and frequent school changes. Both are among the most vulnerable populations in any education system.

But their trajectories since 2019 have moved in opposite directions. Students who are currently homeless improved 8.5 points. Students in foster care declined 14.6 points. The divergence, 23.1 points of swing between two groups that education policy often discusses together, suggests that whatever support structures are reaching students who are currently homeless are not reaching youth in foster care at the same scale.

What may be working

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires schools to remove enrollment barriers, support transportation to a student's school of origin and designate local homeless education liaisons in every district or local education agency, according to a National Center for Homeless Education brief posted by Alabama Achieves. That structure gives Alabama a named support system for students who are currently homeless.

The 2025 rate suggests those structures may be helping students recover from the pandemic-era disruption. The data does not prove which intervention moved the graduation rate, but the rebound is real.

By the numbers: 86.3%, the graduation rate for students who are currently homeless in Alabama in 2025, up from a 2021 low of 74.3%. The gap to the state average has narrowed from 16.4pp to 5.2pp.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.