Deane Bozeman School, Panama City FL

Original Research by School Decision on Deane Bozeman School

Deane Bozeman School sits on Highway 77 in the northern reaches of Bay County, well outside Panama City's downtown core, and it serves students from prekindergarten straight through twelfth grade on a single campus. That PK-12 span is the school's most defining structural feature: a child can enter in the earliest preschool years and graduate from the same building, in a community where families tend to know one another across grade levels.

The enrollment is large for a school of its kind. The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group and smaller numbers of students from other backgrounds. Roughly two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects a working-class and middle-class mix rather than either end of the economic spectrum. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not available in what was provided.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture varies by grade and subject. Third and fourth grade results in both math and ELA are strong, with well above average shares of students reaching proficiency. Eighth grade math is particularly high. The fifth grade numbers are a meaningful departure: proficiency in both math and ELA drops sharply relative to the grades immediately above and below, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school what is happening at that transition point and how the school addresses it. The middle school ELA grades are in the solid-to-moderate range, generally below the third and fourth grade highs. Science at both tested grades lands in the moderate range. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether scores are moving in any direction.

Because the comparison set in Bay County contains only two districts, the data did not support a meaningful ranking against neighboring districts. Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data were not reported for this school in what was provided.

Program details were not included in the data, so it is not possible to say what AP, dual enrollment, career, or extracurricular offerings exist at the high school level. A parent of a student approaching ninth grade would want to ask the school directly about course pathways and post-secondary preparation options.

The school draws from the northern part of Bay County, a rural and semi-rural corridor that differs from the waterfront neighborhoods and redeveloping downtown of Panama City proper. Panama City itself is publicly reported to be in an active rebuilding phase, with a Community Redevelopment Agency working across several districts and major regional investment tied to Tyndall Air Force Base. The local economy leans heavily on defense, healthcare, and hospitality. Home values in the area are close to national norms and have risen modestly year over year, though still slightly below the Florida statewide figure, making the housing market here somewhat more accessible than much of the rest of the state. Rental cost data for this specific area was not available.

Bay School District-level news and strategic priorities were searched but not confirmed in the research conducted, so that context was left out rather than approximated.

The strongest case for Deane Bozeman is continuity: one campus, one community, from the earliest years through graduation. The academic results are genuinely good in the primary grades and in eighth grade math, with a fifth grade dip that deserves a direct conversation with the school. Whether the high school offers the breadth of pathways a family wants is the open question the data cannot answer.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

90-94%Cohort of 123 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 59% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 65% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 51% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 60% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 764%

School 64% · District 50% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 58% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 53% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 60% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 51% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 61% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 765%

School 65% · District 57% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 55% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 53% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 52% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolBAY, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income71%Higher-income73%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income83%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income60%27 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income58%Higher-income69%11 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income71%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income69%30 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income77%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income75%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income51%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income66%Higher-income70%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income67%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income72%Higher-income85%12 pp gap