Windy Hill Elementary School, Jacksonville FL

Original Research by School Decision on Windy Hill Elementary School

Windy Hill Elementary sits on Forest Boulevard in Jacksonville's Southside area, a part of the city that reflects Jacksonville's broadly suburban character rather than its walkable urban pockets. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade within Duval County Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in Florida and a major employer in its own right within the region.

The school's enrollment is mid-sized for an elementary school. Its student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with white students forming a smaller share and smaller numbers of Asian and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning economic need is a defining feature of the community this school serves. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided here.

Florida's FAST assessment results for the most recent year show proficiency rates in both reading and math that fall well below where most families would hope to see them. Across grades three through five, fewer than half of students tested proficient in math in any grade, and ELA results were similarly low, with third-grade reading proficiency notably soft. Fifth-grade science results from the Florida Statewide Science Assessment came in somewhat higher than the other subjects but still below the majority mark. These are figures worth discussing directly with the school. Understanding what instructional supports are in place, how students with different starting points are progressing, and what the school's trajectory looks like over time would give a family a fuller picture than a single year's snapshot. Multi-year trend data was not available in what was provided.

The comparison set for Duval County contains too few districts to produce a meaningful relative ranking, so this school's performance cannot be situated against county peers in any reliable way.

Program information was not included in the data provided, so it is not possible to characterize any enrichment, specialty, or support offerings the school may have.

The zip code surrounding the school sits in a Jacksonville housing market where home values are currently slightly below the Florida state benchmark and have softened modestly over the past year. Rents in the area have also dipped slightly. The rent-to-income ratio suggests housing costs here are broadly manageable relative to incomes, and the monthly carrying cost of a typical home purchase comes in below that of the state as a whole. For families considering this neighborhood, Jacksonville broadly is publicly reported to be one of the faster-growing metro areas in the country, with significant investment concentrated downtown but suburban corridors like Southside continuing to function as the city's residential backbone. The city is car-dependent outside a few walkable districts, so practical daily life near this school will revolve around driving.

Duval County's district brief search was exhausted without surfacing confirmed recent strategic or operational changes, so that layer of context is absent here.

Windy Hill is a neighborhood public elementary serving a community with substantial economic need. The academic results the state has reported are low and a parent would be reasonable to want to understand more before enrolling, including what targeted reading and math intervention looks like at the school, whether there is a clear improvement plan in place, and how teachers and leadership describe their approach to students who are behind grade level.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 59% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 60% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 54% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 51% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 50% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 50% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 52% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolDUVAL, 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-income32%Higher-income28%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income37%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income38%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income38%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income48%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income33%8 pp gap