The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Math. The lowest is 29% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Sadie T. Tillis Elementary School
Sadie T. Tillis Elementary sits on Morse Avenue in Jacksonville's 32244 zip code, on the west side of the city, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Duval County Public Schools. The enrollment is moderate for a K-5 building, with grades distributed fairly evenly across the six levels. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this school in a high-need economic context by any measure. The student body is racially diverse, with Black students making up the largest share, followed by a meaningful Hispanic enrollment, and smaller populations of white, multiracial, and Asian students.
On Florida's state assessments, the picture is mixed and in places genuinely soft. Math proficiency varies by grade, with fourth grade performing considerably better than third and fifth. That fourth-grade result stands out as a relative bright spot. ELA proficiency is lower across all three tested grades and is consistent in a way that flags reading development as an area to watch. The fifth-grade science assessment shows the weakest result of all the tested subjects. These figures are all below what many families would hope for, and a parent considering this school should ask specifically what reading intervention, literacy supports, and math acceleration programs are in place. The data does not tell us what is driving the variation between grades or whether specific instructional initiatives are showing early results.
Trend data is not available in a form that allows year-over-year comparison, so it is not possible to say from this data whether performance has been improving, holding steady, or declining. That gap is worth raising directly with the school.
The comparison set for Duval County contained too few districts for a meaningful peer ranking on proficiency, graduation, or absenteeism, so those positional comparisons were not applicable. Chronic absenteeism and special populations data, including IEP and English learner rates, were not reported in the available data, which are gaps a parent may want to explore with the school directly, particularly if their child has an identified learning need or is an English learner.
No program information was available for this school. Whether Tillis offers arts integration, STEM pathways, after-school enrichment, or specific intervention tiers is not captured here.
The surrounding area is west Jacksonville, a largely car-dependent part of a sprawling city. Publicly reported data describes Jacksonville as one of the faster-growing metro areas in the country, with much of the visible development activity concentrated downtown and along the riverfront rather than in the western residential corridors where Tillis is located. The housing market in this zip code shows home values modestly below both the Florida statewide median and the national median, with a slight year-over-year decline. Rents have edged upward slightly over the same period. For families buying, the price-to-income ratio sits at a more accessible level than in many Florida markets, though current mortgage rates remain elevated nationally. The broader Jacksonville economy is anchored by health care, logistics, the military, and financial services, giving working families in this part of the city reasonable proximity to large employers.
Duval County Public Schools is the parent district. A search for parent-relevant district-level changes, such as boundary shifts, leadership transitions, or program expansions, did not return confirmed results, so that context was left out rather than guessed at.
For a family zoned to Tillis, the school's economic context and current proficiency levels suggest a building carrying real academic challenges, particularly in reading and science. The relative strength in fourth-grade math is worth noting. The honest gaps in the available data, around trends, programs, and student supports, mean a school visit and a direct conversation with administrators would give a much fuller picture than any public profile can.
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