The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Glen Springs Elementary School
Glen Springs Elementary sits on the northwest side of Gainesville, a city whose daily life is shaped in visible ways by the University of Florida. The surrounding area carries a college-town texture even beyond the campus itself: a mix of residential neighborhoods, established commercial corridors, and civic institutions that serve both long-term residents and a rotating population tied to the university. Employment in the area is heavily anchored in education, healthcare, and research, with UF Health, North Florida Regional Medical Center, and a constellation of technology and biotech firms adding depth to the local job market. Housing near the school runs below the Florida statewide median, and recent data shows values edging slightly downward year over year while rents have ticked up modestly. The rent-to-income picture here looks manageable by national standards, though mortgage costs at current rates are a real consideration for buyers.
The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and draws a moderately sized enrollment for a K-5 building in its district. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with white students making up the largest single group, Black students the second largest, and Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students adding further breadth. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that reflects genuine economic range in the school's attendance zone. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, Glen Springs shows a mixed picture across grades and subjects. ELA results are generally the stronger side, with fourth graders performing notably well and third and fifth graders scoring at a solidly passing level relative to the state standard. Math results vary more by grade, with a strong fourth-grade showing but third and fifth grade landing closer to the middle of the pack against the state benchmark. Fifth-grade science, measured on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, lands right around the halfway mark. Placed against districts in Alachua County, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of that two-district comparison set, though the county's highest-performing end is meaningfully above where Glen Springs lands. Parents who want to understand how individual subgroups or classrooms perform within those overall figures may want to ask the school directly, since the available data covers all students as a whole.
Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from what's provided here whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline over recent years.
The parent district, Alachua County Public Schools, has a few things worth knowing about. Voters renewed the district's existing One Mill property tax in late 2024, extending it through mid-2029. Publicly reported accounts indicate this tax sustains a substantial share of teacher positions across all county schools, along with school nurses, librarians, counselors, arts and music programs, and career-technical offerings. Because it was a renewal rather than a new levy, it added nothing to existing tax bills, but its continuation is what keeps those staffing layers in place. The district also joined a state year-round school pilot, though that directly affected Metcalfe and Rawlings elementaries rather than Glen Springs. The Rawlings experiment ended after a school board vote in spring 2025 following a significant enrollment drop and low parent satisfaction, a sequence worth noting for any family considering a school where the district might expand similar pilots.
Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data are not applicable here, since Glen Springs ends at fifth grade and those measures apply to high school and district-level reporting respectively. Program-specific information for the school was not available in what was provided, so a parent wanting to know about enrichment, intervention supports, or extracurricular offerings would need to contact the school directly.
Gainesville itself is growing, with new housing coming in both infill and suburban forms, and the school's northwest location puts it in a part of the city that is established rather than at the edge of new development. Families evaluating Glen Springs are looking at a diverse, mid-sized public elementary in a university city with a stable civic and economic base, showing academic results that clear the state's midpoint bar in most areas while leaving room for growth.
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