Summary:
Zip code 33827 is home to a single public school, Dale R Fair Babson Park Elementary, a K-5 school serving 453 students in the Polk County district, where 46% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
As the only school in the area, Dale R Fair Babson Park Elementary stands out as a strong performer within a district that ranks in the bottom 20% of Florida. The school consistently outperforms the district average in nearly every academic metric, particularly in 3rd grade where 75% of students are proficient in math and 67% in English Language Arts—both well above state averages. However, there is a noticeable decline by 5th grade, especially in ELA where proficiency drops to 48%, which is 13 points below the state average. The school also excels in 5th-grade science, matching the state average at 61% and far exceeding the district's 49%. A key strength is its low chronic absenteeism rate of 19.6%, significantly better than the district's 39.1% and the state's 31.4%.
Despite these positives, the school's state ranking has declined from the 72nd percentile (4 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 56th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-2026, suggesting that while students are attending class, academic growth may not be keeping pace with improvements at other schools statewide. With a student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1 and per-student spending of $8,677, the school provides a solid foundation, but parents should be aware of the downward ranking trend and the challenge in upper-grade reading performance.
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