River City Science Academy Intracoastal, Jacksonville FL

Original Research by School Decision on River City Science Academy Intracoastal

River City Science Academy Intracoastal is a public charter school on San Pablo Road South in Jacksonville, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits in the Southside corridor of a sprawling city, closer to the suburban commercial belt near the St. Johns Town Center than to downtown Jacksonville's civic core. The school draws from across the city, as charter enrollment in Florida is generally open by application rather than tied to a residential attendance zone.

The academic picture here is genuinely strong through most of the school. On Florida's FAST assessments, math proficiency rates across grades three through seven are all well above what most Florida schools post, with fourth grade in particular standing out as among the highest results in the state. ELA proficiency runs somewhat lower than math at every grade but still lands in solid territory from grades three through seven, with seventh grade the strongest. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also a clear strength. These are real results, consistently above mid-level performance, and a family looking for a K-8 school with demonstrated academic outcomes through the middle elementary and lower middle grades has something concrete to point to here.

The eighth-grade picture is different and worth attention. Both math and science proficiency in eighth grade drop noticeably relative to the grades just below, and the science result in particular falls below the midpoint. This is a meaningful gap in a school whose identity is built around science. A parent with a child heading into or currently in eighth grade may want to ask the school directly about what is driving that pattern, whether in curriculum, staffing, or the transition out of the building entirely, since this school stops at eighth grade and students will need a high school plan.

Enrollment is spread fairly evenly across the grade band, with a noticeable increase in sixth and seventh grades. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this in moderate-income territory relative to many Jacksonville charter schools. The student body is majority white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group, followed by Black students and students of two or more races. Asian enrollment is smaller. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in the data provided.

No program-specific information was available in the data, so details about science curriculum design, extracurriculars, or enrichment offerings would need to come directly from the school. Civil-rights discipline data was also absent from the payload.

On housing, the ZIP code around San Pablo Road South carries home values meaningfully above the Florida state median and well above the national median. Values have dipped very slightly over the past year while rents have ticked upward. The rent-to-income ratio based on national median income sits in the moderate range, though the local Jacksonville market may differ. For families relocating to be near the school, this is one of the pricier pockets of Duval County. Jacksonville's broader growth context, publicly reported as one of the faster-growing metros in the country, adds some pressure; the downtown core is undergoing substantial residential and commercial investment, and the metro as a whole has been identified as a housing market where migration and available inventory interact with relative affordability compared to other Florida cities.

The parent district, Duval County Public Schools, is the governing authority of record for RCSA Intracoastal's charter. No district-level strategic priority changes were surfaced in the research.

A graduation rate does not apply here because the school ends at eighth grade. Similarly, AP coursework and dual-enrollment pathways are high-school concepts and are not relevant to this grade band. The comparison fact-set for Duval County had too few entities to produce a meaningful proficiency index comparison, so that positioning was not computed.

For a family seeking a science-focused K-8 charter in Jacksonville's Southside with strong tested outcomes through seventh grade, this school offers a concrete track record. The eighth-grade performance softness is the one area worth pressing the school on before enrolling a student in those final years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 384%

School 84% · District 59% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 490%

School 90% · District 60% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 581%

School 81% · District 54% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 682%

School 82% · District 47% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 43% · ▲ 40 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 47% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 51% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 50% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 50% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 679%

School 79% · District 49% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 48% · ▲ 35 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 47% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Science

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 52% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 37% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 13 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-income68%Higher-income72%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income78%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income70%Higher-income72%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income75%Higher-income82%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income77%Higher-income89%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income79%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income84%Higher-income83%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income79%Higher-income98%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income91%25 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income73%Higher-income88%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income81%Higher-income86%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income59%Higher-income60%1 pp gap