Summary:
In zip code 32054, there is one middle school, Lake Butler Middle School, serving grades 5 through 8 with 752 students in the Union County School District, which is ranked 27th out of 70 districts in Florida.
Lake Butler Middle School presents a mixed picture of academic performance. The school excels in advanced math, with 93% of students proficient in Algebra 1 End-of-Course exams, far above the state average of 63%. It also performs well in 7th-grade math (66% proficiency vs. 53% state) and civics (80% proficiency vs. 77% state). However, the school struggles significantly in other areas. In 5th-grade science, only 48% of students are proficient, 12 points below the state average. The most dramatic finding is in 8th-grade math, where proficiency dropped from 50% to just 31% in one year, a staggering 30 points below the state average. English Language Arts (ELA) performance is also weak, with 7th-grade ELA at 45% proficiency, 17 points below the state.
A major concern is the school's high chronic absenteeism rate of 36.4%, which exceeds both the district (32.9%) and state (31.4%) averages. This likely contributes to the school's declining state ranking, which fell from the 53rd percentile in 2024-2025 to the 38th percentile in 2025-2026, resulting in a drop from a 3-star to a 2-star rating. While the school shows strength in advanced math and civics, parents should be aware of the significant challenges in science, ELA, and especially 8th-grade math, as well as the high absenteeism rate that may impact overall student success.
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