Cleveland Elementary School

Cleveland Elementary School is a public elementary school serving 199 students in grades PK-5 in Tampa, Florida, which is part of the Hillsborough School District. The school faces significant challenges, including a higher percentage of African American students, increasing chronic absenteeism, and consistently lower academic performance compared to the surrounding schools and district averages.

Cleveland Elementary has a notably higher percentage of African American students (53.27%) compared to nearby schools, which range from 10.71% to 87.2% African American. The school has also seen a steady increase in chronic absenteeism, rising from 17.4% in 2019-2020 to 40.7% in 2022-2023, which is higher than the surrounding schools' range of 17.2% to 53.9%. Academically, Cleveland Elementary's proficiency rates on state assessments are consistently lower than the Hillsborough district and Florida state averages across all grade levels and subject areas, with only 28% of 5th graders proficient in science, compared to 47% in Hillsborough and 53% statewide.

When comparing Cleveland Elementary to nearby schools, such as Walton Academy, New Springs Schools, and Seminole Elementary School, it becomes evident that Cleveland Elementary is underperforming academically, despite having the highest per-student spending among the nearby schools at $17,762 in 2022-2023. The school's low student-teacher ratio of 9.9 in 2022-2023 suggests an opportunity to provide more individualized attention and support for students, which could potentially lead to improvements in student learning outcomes if the underlying factors contributing to the current performance levels are addressed.