Tuscaloosa City Schools Hosts Roundtable To Tout State Report Card Improvements

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa City Schools (TCS) leaders gathered Thursday morning for a roundtable discussion at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary to tout the results of the school system's latest report card from the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE).

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TCS Superintendent Mike Daria told those in attendance that a majority of the schools in the system not only made positive progress, with some schools improving by 15 or more points in just one school year.

He was also quick to point out that the report card schools are new every year, saying "this is a start over every year, not a build upon."

TCS reported an overall score of 84, marking an increase of four points from 80 in 2023, while also standing out as the highest score the system has had since ALSDE started issuing the report in 2018.

The score for TCS is a point below the state's overall score of 85 for the 2023-24 school year.

"Our focus has been making profound progress and moving the needle toward becoming an "A" district," Daria said in an official statement following the roundtable. "The majority of our schools have made significant growth, which is the result of the hard work of our students, staff and parents to ensure students' success.

Daria said of TCS's 19 schools that received a grade, 13 increased their scores.

Southview Elementary, for example, had a score of 62 on the state report card in 2023 and received an 81 in 2024, marking an increase of 19 points.

As a result, Southview reportedly tied with three other elementary schools across Alabama to have the largest improvement among elementary schools.

Southview Principal Ronika Amerson said on Thursday that she was initially devastated when she saw the school's 62 score, before going on to say that she made it a point for the school to focus on "achievement and growth."

Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary also reported commendable gains, with an increase from 72 to 81 in just one year.

Woodland Forrest Elementary was another to see a substantial increase, going from a 68 in 2023 to an 83 in 2024.

Woodland Forrest Principal Teresa Croom Bivens said Thursday that her school made such strides thanks to five-pronged commitment focusing on "effort, commitment, application, consistencyu and evaluation."

"It was all about our students," she said.

What's more, TCS said this year is the first time Southview, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary or Woodland Forrest scored a "B"on the report card.

"When I learned about the 19-point growth at Southview Elementary School, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride, joy, and gratitude for our incredible team," Amerson said. "We took full ownership of our 62/D performance in 2022-2023, with no excuses. We recognized the need to develop a plan to shift our trajectory, knowing we were capable of much more than that number."

System leaders said the turnaround at Southview can be attributed to dynamic intervention groups, diligent monitoring of attendance, processing data monthly, and a six-week after- school ACAP (test assessment) bootcamp.

"It takes a village to raise a child and Tuscaloosa is a village," District 6 Board of Education Member Marvin Lucas said during the roundtable, citing community partners like Reading Allies as playing a crucial role in the positive academic outcomes.

At MLK Jr. Elementary, Principal Latanya Williams-Collins said she almost didn't take the job when she first started and quoted the 1989 Morgan Freeman movie "Lean on Me" when reflecting on how someone once referred to the west side school as a "Little East Side High."

"We all want that dark cloud that has always been over MLK to fade away," she said.

Apart from the improvement by underperforming schools, other TCS schools neared the top score on the report card, including Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools Elementary, which received a 99 for the second year in a row.

Rock Quarry Elementary also received a 99, which is an improvement from a 98 last year, while Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools Middle earned a 98 — an improvement of three points.

"It took a lot of hard work and commitment to get to this point," TCS Deputy Superintendent James Pope. "We knew what areas we had to focus on, and our system leadership, principals and teachers put the plans in place to truly make progress happen, especially in the area of reading before third grade. You can see the impact that is having, and we plan to continue the progress until we are an "A" district."

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