Pine Forest Elementary School, Jacksonville FL

Original Research by School Decision on Pine Forest Elementary School

Pine Forest Elementary sits on Grant Road in the San Marco-area corridor of Jacksonville, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in Duval County. The enrollment is a mid-sized cohort for a K-5 school, spread fairly evenly across grades, with the upper elementary grades running somewhat larger than kindergarten.

The student body is racially and ethnically mixed. White students make up the largest share, followed by Black students, then Hispanic students, with smaller numbers of students identifying as multiracial and other groups. Roughly two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school at a moderate economic mix rather than either a high-poverty or an affluent profile. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not available in what was provided.

On Florida's FAST assessments and the statewide science exam, most tested grades show a majority of students scoring at or above the proficiency threshold, and the numbers sit in a range that many families would read as reasonably solid. Math proficiency in the early tested grades is the strongest area, with the third-grade figure notably higher than the fifth-grade result in the same subject. ELA proficiency is somewhat more consistent across grades, though it runs a few points below math in most years. Fifth-grade science proficiency is close to the school's ELA results. The overall picture is one where more than half of students are meeting state benchmarks across subjects, though a meaningful share are not, and parents who want a closer read on specific grade-level trends or subgroup breakdowns would do well to ask the school directly, since multi-year trend data was not available to confirm whether these results are moving up, down, or holding steady.

No program offerings data was included in what was provided, so electives, specials, enrichment, or any specialty focus the school may carry are left out here rather than guessed. The school does not operate as a magnet or charter; it is a standard district school within Duval County Public Schools. The district brief search did not surface confirmed parent-relevant changes, so recent district-level shifts in policy, boundaries, or leadership are not reported here.

The surrounding area is part of Jacksonville's older urban fabric, closer in to the downtown core than the city's sprawling suburban quarters. San Marco, one of Jacksonville's more walkable neighborhoods, is publicly reported as a district with a Mediterranean-style commercial square, established restaurants, and a relatively intact mid-century residential street grid. Home values in the zip code are modestly below both the Florida statewide median and the national median, and rents run at a level that leaves renters spending roughly a quarter of median household income on housing, which sits at the more affordable end of current urban housing markets. Both home values and rents have ticked slightly downward over the past year. The buy-versus-rent gap in this area is relatively narrow compared to many Florida markets, which gives families some flexibility in how they approach housing near the school.

Jacksonville broadly is in an active growth cycle, publicly reported as one of the faster-growing metro areas in the country with a large downtown development push underway. That growth is concentrated more in the downtown core, Southbank, and emerging residential projects than in the immediate San Marco residential side streets where Pine Forest sits, though the broader appreciation pressure has affected the area's housing market over recent years. The city is car-dependent outside a handful of walkable neighborhoods, and Grant Road requires a car or bus for most daily trips outside the immediate blocks.

A graduation rate does not apply here because Pine Forest serves only elementary grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 59% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 60% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 54% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 51% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 50% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 50% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 52% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above 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-income52%Higher-income72%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income71%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income78%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income64%Higher-income74%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income78%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income76%33 pp gap