Brooker Community School Inc

Brooker Community School Inc is a very small, rural elementary school in Brooker, FL, serving 82 students in grades K-5 within the Bradford district, where over half of the students come from economically disadvantaged households.

This school presents a puzzling academic picture. On one hand, its 3rd graders are top performers, scoring 82% proficient in math and 65% in English Language Arts—outpacing the district, state, and nearby schools like Bradford Elementary School and Starke Elementary School. However, by 5th grade, proficiency plummets to just 25% in both subjects, far below the district and state averages. This dramatic drop-off is unique to Brooker; no other nearby school shows such a steep decline between these grades. The most likely cause is a severe attendance crisis: 44.3% of students are chronically absent, a rate far higher than the state average (31.4%) and every other local school with available data, including The One Room School House Project (31.2%) and Alachua Learning Academy Elementary (11.5%).

For parents, this means Brooker’s early success is not carrying through to later grades, and the school’s small size makes its rankings highly sensitive to the performance of a single class. The good news is that spending per student ($11,228) is in line with peers, and the 3rd-grade teachers are clearly effective. The challenge is that without a major push to improve attendance and provide targeted support for upper-grade students, the school risks losing its bright spots. Nearby Alachua Learning Academy Elementary proves that a small school can thrive with strong attendance and consistent expectations, offering a model for what Brooker could achieve.