Summary:
In zip code 33868, there is one elementary school, Polk City Elementary School, serving grades PK through 5 in Polk City, Florida, with 545 students and a high percentage (73.58%) eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Polk City Elementary School shows a mixed performance pattern. The school's strongest results are in 3rd grade, where 67% of students are proficient in math and 66% in English Language Arts (ELA), both exceeding state averages. However, performance drops significantly by 5th grade, with only 40% proficient in math and 42% in science—the latter being 18 points below the state average. The school has seen dramatic improvement in literacy across all tested grades from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, with 3rd grade ELA jumping 17 points and 5th grade ELA rising 19 points. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at 36%, which is higher than the state rate of 31.4% but lower than the Polk district rate of 39.1%. The school spends $10,266 per student and has a student-teacher ratio of 18.1 to 1.
The most notable finding is the "3rd grade bump" versus the "5th grade slide," where early elementary students outperform state averages but upper-grade students fall behind, particularly in science. The school's state ranking has been volatile, ranging from the 33rd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 16th percentile in 2024-2025, then rebounding to the 30th percentile in 2025-2026. The significant year-over-year gains in ELA suggest effective literacy interventions, but the persistent weakness in 5th grade science (42% proficiency) and math (40% proficiency) indicates areas needing focused improvement. The high poverty rate and chronic absenteeism likely contribute to these challenges, making the strong 3rd-grade results particularly noteworthy.
Thank you for your feedback!