Suwannee Riverside Elementary

Suwannee Riverside Elementary in Live Oak, FL, is a large school serving 901 students in grades PK-5 within the Suwannee district, a community where 63.5% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

This school faces significant challenges, particularly a sharp decline in academic performance as students get older. While 3rd graders perform near state averages in English Language Arts, by 5th grade only 37% are proficient in Math and 46% in ELA—well below state and district averages. A major concern is the extremely high chronic absenteeism rate of 42.9%, which is notably worse than the state average and likely a key factor in the school's struggles. The school also has the largest student body in the area with a high student-teacher ratio of 20.2:1, making individualized attention more difficult.

What makes these trends especially striking is the comparison to Suwannee Springcrest Elementary, located just 0.28 miles away. Despite serving a similar demographic, Springcrest consistently outperforms Riverside in nearly every subject and grade level—for example, 52% of 5th graders at Springcrest were proficient in Math versus 37% at Riverside. This suggests the challenges at Riverside are not simply about poverty or district policy, but likely relate to school-specific factors like leadership, instruction, or culture. On a positive note, 4th graders showed a strong improvement in Math proficiency (60%), which could point to a successful intervention worth replicating.