For the second year in a row, Russellville High School has made the U.S. News & World Report's list of the Top 25 High Schools in Alabama, coming in at #22 on this year’s list out of 718 high schools in the state.
This is a tremendous accomplishment for RHS, but it is even more impressive since this list considers socioeconomic factors that might affect rankings, such as the school’s poverty rate (as measured by the percentage of students whose families receive federal government assistance) and the performance of underserved populations, such as the high number of English Language Learners at RHS. The poverty rate at RHS is 58% and the next closest poverty rate of one of the Top 25 high schools is 36%.
RHS Principal Dr. Jason Goodwin said this shows the hard work and resiliency of his students despite adversity.
“We know our students are hardworking, intelligent, and are receiving a top-notch education thanks to our dedicated faculty and staff, but it’s great to see this reflected on paper as well,” Goodwin said. “Many of our students face adversities to learning, such as language barriers and poverty rates, which studies show can negatively affect their performance in school. But our students continue to show their resiliency and how hard they are willing to work to achieve their goals no matter what barriers they may face. To me, this says so much about our students and about the quality of education they are receiving here at RHS.”
RCS Superintendent Dr. Heath Grimes said he was excited to see RHS on this list for the second year in a row, which shows the high level of learning that continues to take place at RHS.
"At RCS, we want our students to know they are capable of whatever they set their minds to, and then we provide them with the tools necessary to make their goals possible,” Grimes said. “We know many of our students face barriers beyond their control, and we make it our mission to make sure they are still able to succeed despite those challenges they face. We have amazing teachers who are dedicated to seeing their students succeed, no matter what, and we have students who set their goals high and strive to meet those goals. All of that is a recipe for success. There is high-level learning taking place in our schools, and being part of this list for the second year in a row shows that.”
The ranking of the 25 Top High Schools in Alabama is based on six different factors:
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College readiness (30%), which includes the proportion of seniors in the class of 2020 who took and earned a qualifying score on Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate exams at some point during their high school career.
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Reading, math and science proficiency (20%), from testing in the 2018-19 school year (since most schools waived testing during the 2019-2020 school year due to the pandemic).
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Reading math and science performance (20%), calculated as expected performance on tests given a school’s student body characteristics.
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Underserved student performance (10%), evaluating how well an underserved subgroup scored on state assessments compared with the average for non-underserved students among schools in the same state.
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College curriculum breadth (10%), calculated as the percentage of seniors in 2019-20 who took and passed multiple AP/IB exams.
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Graduation rates (10%) based on the 2019-20 school year.
Russellville City School Board President Greg Trapp said he and the whole board are happy to see RHS receiving much-deserved recognition.
“I am extremely proud of the students, faculty, staff, and administration at RHS for once again showing how dedicated our system is to making sure our students receive the best education possible,” RCS Board President Greg Trapp said.
“I can't say enough about the amount of hard work it takes from our teachers on a daily basis to make something like this possible, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Our community has always supported the Russellville City Schools and expected the best. I hope everyone can appreciate what an asset we have here. Our schools are second to none in what is offered and what can be achieved, and that is something the entire community can be proud of,” he added.
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