The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 61% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Littlewood Elementary School
Littlewood Elementary sits on NW 34th Street in Gainesville, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public elementary school in the Alachua County school district. The school draws a genuinely diverse enrollment: white students make up the largest share, followed by Black students, Hispanic students, and smaller but present Asian and multiracial populations. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, so Littlewood serves a broad economic range rather than a narrow slice of the community. Data on English learner populations and students with IEPs were not available in the materials we reviewed; a parent with specific questions about those supports would want to ask the school directly.
On the Florida state assessments, Littlewood's results are mixed in a way worth reading carefully. Third-grade math is the clearest bright spot, with most students scoring proficient, and fifth-grade math sits at a similarly solid level. Fourth-grade math and fourth-grade ELA are softer, each falling below the majority threshold. Third and fifth-grade ELA land in the upper-middle range. Fifth-grade science comes in at roughly that same level. Placing these results against the two districts in Alachua County, Littlewood's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among those county districts, which gives a useful frame. The school is not at the top of the county range, but it is not at the bottom either. A parent who wants to understand where individual grades are struggling, particularly in fourth-grade reading and math, would be well served by asking the school about its targeted supports in those years.
One thing that works across all schools in the district is the renewed One Mill property tax, which voters approved in late 2024. Publicly reported, this levy pays all or part of the salaries for art, music, drama, band and chorus teachers, school librarians, nurses, and counselors across every district school. It was a renewal rather than a new tax, running through 2029, and it directly funds the kinds of staff and enrichment that elementaries often lose first when budgets are tight. That matters for a school like Littlewood in practical, everyday terms.
The school sits in Gainesville, which is a college-inflected city anchored by the University of Florida. The university is the area's largest employer by a wide margin, followed by UF Health and other healthcare institutions, local government, and a cluster of technology and biotech firms that grew around the university's research activity. The result is a city where many families have connections to academic and professional environments, which shapes the peer community at schools across Gainesville. The neighborhood around NW 34th Street is primarily residential, and downtown Gainesville with its libraries, transit, and civic anchors is accessible. The city's Regional Transit System serves the area.
The housing market near Littlewood is more approachable than Florida's coastal metros. Home values in the relevant zip code are below both the state and national medians, and while they have dipped slightly over the past year, rents have edged upward. The estimated monthly cost to own, at current rates with a standard down payment, runs meaningfully below what buyers face in Tampa, Orlando, or South Florida. Rent-to-income ratios suggest the rental market here is relatively manageable by national standards, though it is not free of pressure. Gainesville overall is growing, with new housing coming in both urban infill and suburban forms, so the market is active rather than stagnant.
For programs-specific information, the data available did not include course offerings or enrichment program details at Littlewood itself. A parent interested in what the school offers beyond core academics should ask directly. Multi-year trend data was also unavailable, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results are improving, declining, or holding steady.
Littlewood is a diverse neighborhood elementary in a university city, with state assessment results that are generally solid at the third and fifth-grade levels and softer in the middle, housed in a community where the cost of living gives families somewhat more room than much of the state.
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