Summary:
Zip code 32334 in Hosford, Florida, is home to a single school, Hosford Elementary Junior High School, which serves 302 students in grades PK through 8 as part of the Liberty County school district.
Hosford Elementary Junior High School presents a mixed picture of strong academic peaks and significant challenges. The school is a standout in upper-grade math and science, with 7th-grade math proficiency reaching 85% and 8th-grade science proficiency at 78% in the most recent year, both well above state averages. It also showed remarkable year-over-year improvement, including a 41-point jump in Algebra 1 proficiency to 86%. However, this success is contrasted by struggles in lower-grade English Language Arts, where 3rd and 5th-grade proficiency rates (48% each) lag behind the state. The school's state ranking has been declining, dropping from the 58th percentile to the 45th percentile over three years, despite strong per-student spending of $12,458 and a favorable 14:1 student-teacher ratio.
The most pressing concern is a chronic absenteeism rate of 51.0%, which is significantly higher than both the district (38.4%) and state (31.4%) averages. This high rate of absenteeism is likely a key factor behind the school's declining overall ranking, even as its top-performing students achieve excellent results. The school's academic success in upper grades appears to occur despite this challenge, not because of it. For parents, this school offers a strong STEM program for older students and a history of dramatic academic turnarounds, but the high absenteeism and inconsistent elementary literacy scores are critical factors to consider when evaluating the school's overall environment and support systems.
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