Summary:
In zip code 32431, there is one elementary school, Cottondale Elementary School, serving grades PK through 5 in the Cottondale, FL area with 471 students.
Cottondale Elementary School is a school of notable contrasts. It has shown remarkable strengths, such as a 66% proficiency rate in 5th-grade English Language Arts in the 2024-2025 school year, which was significantly higher than both the Jackson district (49%) and the state (56%). However, the school also faces significant challenges, particularly in math. In the most recent 2025-2026 school year, 5th-grade math proficiency dropped to 38%, which is 24 points below the state average. A concerning pattern emerges in math scores, with proficiency declining sharply from 63% in 3rd grade to 38% in 5th grade, a much steeper drop than the state average. The school's state ranking has also been volatile, falling from the 49th percentile to the 24th percentile over three years.
A critical issue for the school is its chronic absenteeism rate of 40.3%, which is nearly 9 points higher than the state average and likely a major factor in its academic struggles. Despite spending $10,273 per student and maintaining a favorable student-teacher ratio of 14.7:1, the school underperforms the state in most subjects. A silver lining is 5th-grade science, which has been a relative strength, outperforming the district average in recent years. For parents, this data suggests that while Cottondale Elementary has pockets of excellence, particularly in ELA, it faces systemic challenges in math instruction and student attendance that need attention.
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