Joseph Stilwell Middle School

Joseph Stilwell Middle School in Jacksonville, FL, is a public school serving 489 students in grades 6-8 within the Duval district, where a majority of students (57.87%) qualify for free or reduced lunch.

This school faces significant challenges, most notably a severe chronic absenteeism rate of 53.7% in the 2023-2024 school year, which is much higher than the state average of 31.4% and even exceeds nearby schools with similar poverty levels, such as Lake Shore Middle School (37.0%). While a small group of advanced students performs exceptionally well on end-of-course exams—with 94% proficiency in Algebra 1 and 86% in Biology 1—the majority of students struggle on standard grade-level tests. For example, only 15% of 7th graders were proficient in math, and just 20% of 8th graders were proficient in science. This creates a "two-tiered" academic environment where top students thrive while many others fall behind. The school spends $13,669 per student, which is higher than the district average and significantly more than top-performing nearby magnet schools like Julia Landon College Preparatory & Leadership Development S ($7,711), yet overall performance remains low.

Compared to other high-poverty schools in the area, such as Jean Ribault Middle School, Stilwell shows similar patterns of low state rankings and high advanced course scores, but its absenteeism problem is notably worse. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of Florida middle schools over the past decade, earning a 1-star rating for most years. The most critical areas for improvement are reducing chronic absenteeism and addressing the systemic struggles in 7th-grade math, where proficiency rates have dropped sharply from 41% to just 15% in recent years.