Enrollment
201
Alabama · 2024-25 NCES data
2024-25 NCES data Elementary school (grades K-5) NCES 010358202558 Charter school
Empower Community School — Bessemer, AL
Federal NCES profile for Empower Community School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators.
201 students enrolled
School address
District: Empower Community School · Alabama
Public location data per NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) Common Core of Data. Verify the school's current address on the NCES CCD record.
Free-lunch eligible
61.9%
vs 58.8% Alabama avg
+5% vs state
The federal record — no proprietary index, no editorial formula.
PlainSchools publishes the actual federal measurements — enrollment, staffing, demographics, discipline, and finance — straight from the NCES Common Core of Data, CRDC, and F-33 surveys. No composite rating, no opinion-based score on top. You get the same raw numbers researchers and policymakers use, with benchmarks, spending context, and equity indicators computed from the same federal datasets. Full methodology linked below.
What this school's NCES data tells you
Empower Community School reports 201 enrolled students to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Title I and federal lunch eligibility offer another window into the student body: 61.9% of pupils qualify for free meals, a proxy for household income that federal programs use to direct funding. The free-lunch share is 5% above the Alabama average and 19% above the national baseline.
Use the demographic breakdown, funding mix and nearby-school comparisons below to build a fuller picture than any single ranking provides.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Empower Community School compares
Cross-validating school-level NCES values against Alabama state and U.S. national means lets readers see whether this school is an outlier or in line with peers.
| Metric | This school | vs Alabama | Alabama avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-lunch eligible | 61.9% | ▲ 5% | 58.8% | 51.8% |
| Enrollment | 201 | top 8% | — | — |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
What the federal data reveals about equity at this school
Federal measurements — not ratings — surface the resource and opportunity picture. Below are the indicators that researchers, civil-rights monitors, and funding formulas use to assess equity.
Economic need
61.9%
free-lunch eligible
— 5% above the Alabama average of 58.8%
Above the 40% Title I schoolwide threshold — federal funds support the whole school, not individual students.
Overview
Enrollment 201 Top 8% in Alabama — larger than 92% of 1,369 state schools
Teachers (FTE) —
Students per teacher —
Free-lunch eligible 61.9% +5% vs state
NCES ID 010358202558
Student demographics
African American 83.6%
Hispanic or Latino 10.9%
Two or More 3.0%
White 2.5%
Largest group: African American at 83.6% of enrollment.
Similar elementary schools in Bessemer
2 comparable elementary schools (grades K-5) serving the same city.
Educator & family resources
In-depth guides on understanding NCES data, school choice, and education funding.
Understanding NCES data
How CCD, CRDC and EDFacts feed every public-school number you see.
Choose a school district
Eight signals that matter more than the overall ranking number.
How schools are funded
Title I, F-33, state aid formulas and what per-pupil spending really means.
Chronic absenteeism
Why missing 10% of school matters and how it varies by district.
Magnet vs charter vs traditional
Three school types, three funding models, three sets of trade-offs.
School discipline data
What CRDC suspension and expulsion records do and don't reveal.
Frequently asked questions about Empower Community School
How many students attend Empower Community School?
Empower Community School has 201 students enrolled. It is a elementary school in Bessemer, AL.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Empower Community School?
61.9% of students at Empower Community School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Alabama average of 58.8%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Empower Community School?
The largest demographic group at Empower Community School is African American at 83.6%. The school serves a diverse student body in Bessemer, AL.