The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 65% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Lakeside Junior High School
Lakeside Junior High School sits on Moody Avenue in Orange Park, a small incorporated town on the western bank of the St. Johns River in Clay County, about fifteen miles south of downtown Jacksonville. The school serves seventh and eighth grade students, with no sixth-grade enrollment reported in the current data. It is a regular public school within the Clay County district.
On Florida's FAST assessments for the most recent school year, the school's eighth-grade math results stand out as a clear strength, with a majority of students reaching proficiency and the rate running meaningfully higher than the seventh-grade math result. ELA proficiency held steady across both tested grade levels at roughly the same rate, which sits in solid but not exceptional territory. Eighth-grade science, assessed separately through the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, came in at a comparable level to ELA. Trend data is not available because the state changed its assessment system, so year-over-year comparison is not possible from what is reported here. Parents wanting to understand how these results compare to other schools within Clay County should know that the county has only one school district, which makes a meaningful peer comparison within the county unavailable from this data set.
About half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, placing economic diversity roughly at the midpoint. The school's racial and ethnic composition is majority white, with Hispanic and Black students making up the next largest groups and a smaller share identifying as two or more races. Data on English learner status and students with IEPs was not available, so parents of students who rely on those services may want to ask the school directly about capacity and staffing in those areas. Discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism data were also not provided.
Program information was not available for this school. No AP, dual enrollment, or career pathway details were included in the data, which is consistent with a school serving only middle grades, where those pathways are typically not the focus. What the school offers beyond the core curriculum in terms of electives, enrichment, or extracurriculars is not something this data can speak to, and a visit or conversation with the school would give a clearer picture.
Orange Park itself is a car-dependent, largely built-out suburb. The housing market near the school has seen home values slip modestly compared to the prior year, putting them below the Florida statewide benchmark, which may make the area relatively accessible for families weighing cost against proximity to Jacksonville employment. Rental costs have moved in the opposite direction, edging upward year over year. The rent-to-income ratio in this zip code sits at a level that occupies a meaningful but not extreme share of household budgets. Major employers in the area include Orange Park Medical Center, the Clay County School District, retail and services along Blanding Boulevard and US 17, and Naval Air Station Jacksonville nearby. For commuters, Jacksonville's job market is accessible by car and, to a lesser extent, by JTA bus lines that connect Orange Park to the broader metro.
The town is actively working on pedestrian infrastructure and a planned town square near Town Hall, but at present it reads as oriented around car travel. Community gathering happens at Town Hall Park through events like the Farmers' and Arts Market and the Fall Festival. The surrounding Clay County is growing, particularly in areas like Oakleaf and Lake Asbury west of town, and a regional expressway project is under construction with completion projected several years out.
No information about recent district-level changes or strategic priorities for Clay County was confirmed in the research for this profile, so that context was left out rather than guessed at.
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