Lincoln Elementary School

Lincoln Elementary School in Riviera Beach, FL, is a PK-5 public school serving 397 students in a high-poverty community within the Palm Beach School District, where about 78% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The most critical challenge at Lincoln Elementary is an extraordinarily high rate of chronic absenteeism, with 43.9% of students missing significant amounts of school in 2023-2024—nearly double the district average and far above the state average. This directly impacts academic performance, as test scores consistently fall below district and state averages across all subjects and grade levels. For example, 5th Grade ELA proficiency is at 34%, while the district average is 59%. Interestingly, Lincoln spends a high amount per student ($18,556), yet nearby Northboro Elementary School, which serves a similar demographic with a 73.5% poverty rate, spends less per student ($16,243) but achieves dramatically better results—ranking in the 62nd percentile compared to Lincoln’s 7th percentile. Northboro’s chronic absenteeism rate is just 11.9%, highlighting that attendance is a key factor in success.

There is a glimmer of hope in 5th Grade Science, where proficiency jumped from 18% in 2022-2023 to 51% in 2024-2025, briefly exceeding district and state averages before settling at 41% in 2025-2026. This suggests that targeted instructional strategies in science could be a model for other subjects. However, the school’s high spending with low returns raises questions about resource allocation. Nearby Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary, just 0.71 miles away, also struggles with high absenteeism (50.2%) but outperforms Lincoln in 3rd Grade ELA (53% vs. 40%) and Math (66% vs. 41%), showing that school-level factors like leadership and programs can make a difference even in challenging contexts. The most urgent priority for Lincoln must be a comprehensive strategy to improve attendance, as the success of Northboro proves that significant improvement is possible.