How do I read a school's state letter grade and index scores?

Alabama gives each school a state accountability letter grade from its total points earned: A is 90-100, B is 80-89, C is 70-79, D is 60-69 and F is 0-59. A school may instead show ID (insufficient data) or AW (approved waiver) in the state's files. Those are not grades, and Smith Lake NOW does not publish a school profile unless the state has published a letter grade for that school.

What to know when you read a profile on Schools & Education:

• Every number is shown with its reporting year. The grades on the site are for the 2024-25 school year, published by the Alabama State Department of Education in November 2025.
• Academic achievement and academic growth are index scores used in the state's formula. They are not the percent of students who are proficient.
• Graduation rate and college and career readiness are percents of a graduating cohort, and the state reports them one year behind the other indicators.
• Chronic absenteeism is the percent of students absent 18 or more days. A lower percent is better.
• If the state published no number for a school, the page says "not available". A missing number is never shown as zero.
• The site does not rank schools and does not use rating websites.

Each profile links to the official workbook the numbers come from and shows the date they were retrieved.