The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in Math. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on J Franklyn Keller Intermediate School
J. Franklyn Keller Intermediate School sits on South 8th Street in Macclenny, the county seat of Baker County in Northeast Florida, serving fourth and fifth graders in the Baker County district. The school is a regular public school, not a charter, and these two grades are its entire scope, so measures like graduation rates and high school program offerings simply do not apply here.
On the most recent Florida state assessments available, reading proficiency in both grades came in just below half of all students tested, with math results similar at fourth grade and somewhat lower at fifth. Science, tested only at fifth grade, showed fewer than a third of students reaching proficiency. These figures represent a starting point, not a final verdict, and a parent wanting to understand whether the results are improving, holding steady, or slipping would want to ask the school directly, because the trend data was not available for review. The assessment also shifted in name and cut-score definitions around this period, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable even where prior data existed. Worth knowing but worth following up on.
Enrollment and demographic data were not reported in the dataset for this school, so there is nothing to say about class sizes, student composition, or the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. Title I status was also not reported. Parents looking for information on how the school structures its support for students with learning differences or English learners should ask those questions directly, since neither IEP rates nor English-learner figures appeared in the available data.
The school is the only intermediate-grade campus in Baker County's single-district system. The comparison data confirms only one district operates in Baker County, so there is no within-county peer set to position the school against in any meaningful way.
The town around it gives some texture to who attends. Macclenny is publicly reported as a small, working-class community that sits about a half-hour's drive from Jacksonville, close enough to feel the metro's housing spillover without being suburban. The historic downtown along U.S. 90 remains the practical civic center, anchored by the Emily Taber Public Library in the old courthouse and by local institutions like the Baker County Press. Northeast Florida State Hospital is publicly reported as the county's largest single employer, with the school district and public administration also significant. Several large residential developments have been proposed or are underway, and publicly reported local reaction reflects a community that wants growth managed carefully to preserve its rural scale.
Home values in the area are running near the national median, with modest year-over-year appreciation, and they sit somewhat below the Florida state benchmark, making Baker County materially more affordable than most of the state. Rental data was not available in this dataset.
For a family moving to Macclenny with fourth or fifth graders, Keller Intermediate is the school. There is no choice point here within the public system. The academic proficiency picture is below the midline and warrants a direct conversation with the school about what academic intervention and enrichment look like in practice, what the current trajectory is, and how the school communicates progress to families. The community context is a small Florida town with genuine local identity and active civic anchors, on the edge of a growth wave that residents themselves are still working out how to absorb.
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