Summary:
In zip code 34736, located in Groveland, Florida, there is one middle school, Gray Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 with a total enrollment of 985 students and is part of the Lake County school district.
Gray Middle School presents a mixed picture of academic performance. The school excels in advanced math, with 77% of students proficient in Algebra 1 and 88% proficient in Geometry, significantly outperforming both district and state averages. However, this strength contrasts with a notable weakness in 7th grade math, where only 33% of students are proficient, well below the state average of 53%. The school also struggles with chronic absenteeism, with a rate of 46.2% that is nearly 50% higher than the state average, which likely impacts overall learning. The school's state ranking has been volatile, dropping to the 28th percentile in 2024-2025 before recovering to the 38th percentile in 2025-2026, though this improvement is driven largely by advanced math scores rather than broad gains in core subjects.
Key metrics show that 40% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and the school spends $9,819 per student with a student-teacher ratio of 17.7:1. A sharp performance drop occurs between 6th and 7th grade, with 6th graders scoring at or above state averages in both ELA (62%) and math (63%), while 7th grade proficiency falls to 51% in ELA and 33% in math. Additionally, the school underperforms in civics (69% proficient) compared to the district (75%) and state (77%). These patterns suggest that while advanced students thrive, the majority of students in standard classes face significant challenges, particularly in 7th grade, and the high absenteeism rate remains a critical concern for the school community.
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