St. Johns

The St. Johns school district in Florida is a top-tier, 5-star district ranked 4th out of 70 in the state, serving 50 public schools from elementary through high school, but it is a district of stark contrasts where elite performance and significant challenges coexist.

The district's highest performers are a clear group of standouts. Creekside High School and Allen D Nease Senior High School are both ranked in the top 40 in Florida with 98.9% graduation rates, while Ponte Vedra High School graduates 99% of its students. At the elementary level, Ponte Vedra Palm Valley- Rawlings Elementary School and Ocean Palms Elementary School rank in the 98th percentile statewide. In stark contrast, St. Johns Technical High School and Gaines Alternative At Hamblen rank in the bottom 20% of Florida high schools, with extremely low test scores and chronic absenteeism rates exceeding 56%. This gap is strongly tied to socioeconomic factors, as schools like South Woods Elementary School and James A. Webster Elementary School serve populations with over 70% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch and rank in the bottom 35th percentile.

Key metrics reveal a district where spending does not guarantee success. While the district's average graduation rate is an impressive 97.1% and chronic absenteeism is well below the state average, the data shows that higher per-student spending at schools like The Evelyn Hamblen Center ($87,278 per student) does not translate to high test scores, whereas top performers like Creekside High School achieve excellent results with about $9,112 per student. A notable district-wide finding is a "middle school dip" in math, where 7th-grade proficiency drops significantly at high-performing K-8 academies like Patriot Oaks Academy (from 94% in 6th grade to 67%) and Palm Valley Academy (from 85% to 70%).