Kathleen Elementary School

Kathleen Elementary School in Lakeland, FL, is a public school serving 453 students in grades PK-5 within the Polk district, where nearly 80% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school has faced significant challenges over the past decade, including a very high chronic absenteeism rate of 47.1%—far above the state average of 31.4%—which directly impacts learning. However, there is a bright spot: Kathleen’s 5th graders are outperforming expectations, with a 64% proficiency rate in Science (15 points higher than the district average and 4 points above the state) and a dramatic 21-point jump in Math proficiency from 36% to 57% in just one year.

This success is not uniform across the school. While 5th graders excel in every subject compared to district averages, 3rd and 4th graders are struggling significantly—only 27% of 4th graders are proficient in Math versus 56% district-wide. This suggests a strong teaching team or effective intervention at the 5th-grade level that isn’t yet reaching younger students. Nearby Winston Academy of Engineering, a high-performing 4-star school just 5 miles away, has nearly double the proficiency rates in most subjects (e.g., 5th Grade ELA: 81% vs. 57%), but also serves a much lower poverty population (51% vs. 79% free/reduced lunch) and has a chronic absenteeism rate of just 17.2%.

Kathleen spends $12,376 per student—higher than most nearby Polk peers like Edgar L. Padgett Elementary ($10,776) or R. Clem Churchwell Elementary ($10,870)—yet overall academic performance remains low. The key takeaway for parents is that Kathleen has a promising “5th Grade Effect” worth investigating, but the school must tackle its persistent absenteeism crisis and replicate its upper-grade successes in the lower grades to improve outcomes for all students.