Orangewood Elementary School

Orangewood Elementary School is a public school in Fort Myers, FL, serving 679 students in grades PK-5 within the Lee school district, and it has recently shown a dramatic academic rebound after a significant pandemic-era decline.

The most striking feature of Orangewood is its explosive test score improvement in the most recent school year. After a difficult 2024-2025 year, the school saw massive gains, particularly in 5th grade, where math proficiency jumped from 30% to 71% and science proficiency rose from 26% to 65%. This turnaround is exceptional compared to nearby schools like Edgewood Academy and Colonial Elementary School, which did not show similar positive swings. However, the improvement is uneven: while 5th graders now exceed district averages, 3rd and 4th graders still struggle, especially in math, where proficiency rates trail the district by 20-25 points. This suggests the rebound may be driven by a strong cohort of older students, while foundational skills in lower grades remain a concern.

Another positive differentiator is Orangewood's chronic absenteeism rate of 20.3%, which is the lowest among all eight nearby schools in the district, compared to rates of 42.8% at Hancock Creek Elementary School and 38.1% at Edgewood Academy. Interestingly, Orangewood achieves this with relatively low per-student spending ($11,617), the second-lowest among its peers, while schools spending much more, like Edgewood Academy ($20,498) and Villas Elementary School ($14,772), do not achieve better results. The school's location in a cluster of low-performing schools, with Allen Park Elementary School (23rd percentile) nearby, contrasts sharply with Tanglewood Elementary School (71st percentile) just 1.6 miles away, highlighting that school-specific factors like leadership and culture can overcome neighborhood demographics. While the recent gains are encouraging, the school's history of volatility means its long-term trajectory remains uncertain.