Summary:
This analysis examines three elementary schools in zip code 33433 (Boca Raton, FL), serving grades PK-5 within the Palm Beach district, and reveals a stark contrast between high-performing traditional public schools and a struggling charter option.
Del Prado Elementary School stands out as the clear academic leader, consistently ranking in the top 13% of Florida elementary schools with a 4-star rating. It boasts the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (18.8%) and the highest test scores across all subjects, including 86% proficiency in 3rd grade ELA and 79% in 5th grade science. Hammock Pointe Elementary School is a solid, above-average choice, showing improvement to the 67th percentile with strong math scores, particularly in 3rd and 5th grades. In contrast, Olympus International Academy is a significant area of concern, ranking in the bottom 8% of Florida elementary schools with a 0-star rating. It suffers from the highest chronic absenteeism rate (36.8%) and critically low test scores, with proficiency below 40% in most core subjects.
The most striking finding is that spending does not equal performance: Olympus International has the highest per-student spending ($14,432) and the lowest student-teacher ratio (14.1:1) yet is the lowest-performing school by a wide margin. Chronic absenteeism emerges as a powerful predictor of academic success, with an 18-point gap between Del Prado and Olympus. While Del Prado has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (22.3%), Olympus has a similar rate (24.67%) but performs drastically worse, indicating that factors like school culture and leadership are likely the primary drivers of the performance gap. Both Hammock Pointe and Del Prado report 100% proficiency in 6th grade math, likely reflecting a small group of advanced students rather than the general population.
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