Summary:
Zip code 33435 in Boynton Beach, Florida, is served by four public elementary schools (PK-5) within the Palm Beach School District, all of which face significant economic challenges with over 60% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
Poinciana STEM Elementary Magnet School is the clear standout, outperforming its peers across nearly every academic metric. It is the only school in the area to consistently score at or above district and state averages, with 5th-grade science proficiency at 64% and 5th-grade ELA at 69%—far exceeding the other three schools. Poinciana also boasts a remarkably low chronic absenteeism rate of 12.0%, less than half the district average. In contrast, Rolling Green Elementary School is the most challenged, with the lowest state ranking (15th percentile) and the lowest test scores, despite having the highest per-student spending ($18,524). Forest Park Elementary School and Galaxy Elementary School fall in the middle, with Galaxy showing the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 30.1%.
The most striking finding is that higher spending does not guarantee better outcomes—Rolling Green spends the most but performs the worst, while Poinciana’s moderate spending and specialized STEM magnet program yield the best results. Chronic absenteeism emerges as the strongest predictor of performance, with a near-perfect inverse correlation to test scores. This suggests that improving attendance could be the most impactful intervention for the lower-performing schools. Additionally, year-over-year test scores are volatile at the non-magnet schools, hinting at potential issues with curriculum continuity or teacher turnover. A data anomaly shows improbable 90-100% proficiency scores for "6th Grade Math" at three elementary schools, which is likely an error.
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