Summary:
The city of Cottondale, Florida, is served by two public schools—Cottondale Elementary School (Pre-K through 5th grade) and Cottondale High School (6th through 12th grade)—both part of the Jackson County School District, which holds a 2-star rating.
Cottondale High School stands out as the stronger school, consistently earning a 3-star rating and outperforming the district and state in key subjects like Algebra 1 (78% proficient) and 10th-grade English Language Arts (75% proficient). However, it faces a severe chronic absenteeism crisis, with 61% of students missing significant school time—nearly double the district average. Despite this, the high school’s graduation rate is 87.7%, slightly below state averages. In contrast, Cottondale Elementary School is in a clear decline, dropping from the 49th to the 24th percentile in state rankings over two years and earning a 1-star rating. Its test scores fall below state averages in every subject, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 40.3% is also high.
Both schools serve economically disadvantaged populations, with the elementary school having a higher rate of free/reduced lunch eligibility (54.56%) compared to the high school (47.02%). Interestingly, the high school spends more per student ($11,223) than the elementary school ($10,273), yet the elementary school has a better student-teacher ratio (14.7:1 vs. 16.1:1). This suggests that spending and class size alone do not drive performance. The high school shows inconsistent results by subject, excelling in Algebra and ELA but struggling in Biology, US History, and Civics. For parents, the key takeaway is that Cottondale High School offers strong instruction in core subjects for students who attend regularly, while Cottondale Elementary School requires urgent attention to reverse its downward trend.
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