Summary:
This analysis examines five elementary schools in Gainesville, FL (zip code 32608), all part of the Alachua school district, serving grades PK-5 in an area with a wide range of school performance levels.
The standout school in this area is Expressions Learning Arts Academy, a small charter school with 84 students that achieved a 5-star rating and the highest test scores, including 83% proficiency in 4th-grade ELA and Math, and the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 15.2%. However, its ranking dropped from the 91st to the 66th percentile, showing volatility. Lawton M. Chiles Elementary School is a consistently strong performer, maintaining a 4-star rating for three years with 80% proficiency in 4th-grade ELA and a low chronic absenteeism rate of 19.1%. In contrast, Idylwild Elementary School and Myra Terwilliger Elementary School are the most challenged, with 0 or 1-star ratings, chronic absenteeism rates near 45%, and test scores well below district and state averages. Kimball Wiles Elementary School sits in the middle, with a declining ranking from the 75th to the 60th percentile, though its test scores remain above district averages.
Key takeaways include a strong link between poverty and performance, as the two lowest-performing schools have the highest free/reduced lunch rates (around 70%), while top performers have rates between 34% and 45%. Chronic absenteeism is a powerful indicator, with the best schools having rates below 24% and the worst near 45%. Notably, the lowest-performing schools spend more per student ($12,369 to $12,777) than the highest-performing ones ($10,656 to $11,238), showing that spending alone does not guarantee success. The charter school model at Expressions shows promise with a low student-teacher ratio of 8.7:1, but its small size makes results variable.
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