Enrollment
201
Alabama · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Bessemer, AL
Empower Community School
Federal NCES profile for Empower Community School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 010358202558Charter school
201 students enrolled
School address
District: Empower Community School · Alabama
NCES ID 010358202558 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Free-lunch eligible
61.9%
vs 58.8% Alabama avg
+5% vs state
What stands out at Empower Community School
Empower Community School is a higher-need, small charter elementary school in Bessemer, Alabama, enrolling 201 students.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 61.9% lands close to the Alabama typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 92% of Alabama schools, with 201 enrolled.
Its student body is predominantly African American (84% of enrollment) (diversity index 29/100).
Among Bessemer's elementary schools, it stands alongside Greenwood Elementary School (290 students): Empower Community School is smaller than that campus by headcount.
Empower Community School is a single-school charter district, so Empower Community School operates independently rather than alongside district-mates. At 201 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of Alabama's single-school districts.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Empower Community School compares
Empower Community School on the metrics families compare, against Alabama and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Alabama | Alabama avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-lunch eligible | 61.9% | ▲ 5% | 58.8% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 201 | top 92% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
201
Bigger than 20% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
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
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
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.
Student-body diversity index 28.8/100
Simpson diversity index - at 28.8, Empower Community School is less mixed than the Alabama school average of 42.5.
Similar elementary schools in Bessemer
2 comparable elementary schools (grades K-5) serving the same city.
Similar elementary schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Alabama, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Empower Community School's federal record.
- Compare Empower Community School against another school. Compare schools
- Empower Community School's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Empower Community School
How many students attend Empower Community School?
Empower Community School has 201 students enrolled. It is an 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% of enrollment, in Bessemer, AL.
What other schools are in Empower Community School?
None; Empower Community School is a single-school charter district, and Empower Community School is its only campus.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.