Summary:
Zip code 32117 in Daytona Beach/Holly Hill, Florida, is home to two elementary schools serving grades PK-5, both part of the Volusia school district and facing significant challenges with over 82% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
Westside Elementary School stands out as the stronger-performing school in this area, consistently outperforming Holly Hill Elementary in nearly every subject and grade level. For example, Westside's 5th-grade Science proficiency (57%) is 20 percentage points higher than Holly Hill's (37%), and its 3rd-grade ELA proficiency (48%) is 17 points higher. Westside has also shown a positive trajectory, moving from the 7th percentile to the 22nd percentile in state rankings over two years, while Holly Hill has remained stagnant in the bottom 4th-8th percentile. Notably, Westside achieves these better results with lower per-student spending ($10,056 vs. $12,772) and a higher student-teacher ratio (18.8:1 vs. 14.3:1), suggesting more efficient use of resources.
Both schools face a critical, shared crisis with chronic absenteeism rates around 47%, significantly worse than the district (34.1%) and state (31.4%) averages. This is a primary driver of low academic performance, with nearly half of all students missing so much school it impacts their education. Additionally, both schools consistently score 10-25 percentage points below district and state benchmarks across all subjects. While Westside shows promise with its upward trend, families should be aware that both schools require substantial support to close the achievement gap, and the high absenteeism rate is a community-wide issue needing intervention beyond the school walls.
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