Ardmore is Still 4A

The new classifications from the AHSAA are available on the AHSAA website. Ardmore remains a 4A school for another two years. For those that don’t know, every two years the AHSAA reclassifies all the schools in Alabama. The classifications are based upon the number of students in grades 10-12 and 9th grade hold backs.

Many people think there is a “magic number” that causes a school to change classifications. This is actually not the case, but instead classification is on a scale that depends on the size of other schools in the state. The schools are arranged from largest to smallest according to student numbers and the lines are drawn in order to balance the number of teams in each classification. Once the classifications are determined, the area or region must be determined. Several factors are considered such as the number of schools of the same size and where they are located geographically.

A school could remain the same size and change classifications based upon changes in the enrollment of other schools. Schools may stay the same classification and change areas due to other schools changing classifications. The AHSAA looks at all the data and makes the best arrangement they can based upon numbers. I hope this helps explain some of the process.