The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in Science. The lowest is 10% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Horizon Institute
Horizon Institute is a public alternative school in Jacksonville, operated within the Duval County district and serving grades six through twelve. Its physical address places it in the San Jose Boulevard corridor on Jacksonville's southside, a suburban and commercially developed stretch well removed from the downtown core. As an alternative school, it exists outside the standard school-choice framework most families navigate; students are typically placed here through district processes rather than open enrollment, and the school operates with a different purpose and population than a conventional middle or high school.
The student body is modest in size for a school spanning so many grade levels. The concentration of enrollment falls in the middle high school years, with the upper grades thinning considerably, which is a pattern common to alternative settings where students may transition in and out. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the racial composition is predominantly Black, with Hispanic and white students each making up a meaningful secondary share.
State assessment results are available for several tested grades, and they reflect the population that alternative schools tend to serve: students who arrive carrying significant academic gaps. Proficiency rates in English language arts across the tested middle grades, on Florida's FAST assessment, are very low, with only a small fraction of students scoring at or above the proficiency threshold in each grade. Math results from a recent year follow a similar pattern, again with very few students reaching proficiency. Science scores at the eighth grade are in the same range. These figures are not surprising in the context of an alternative school, where students are often working to recover credits, stabilize academically, or address circumstances that made a traditional placement untenable. A parent reviewing these numbers should understand they describe the starting conditions of the school's intake, not simply its instructional quality, and it would be worth asking the school directly how it tracks and supports academic progress over a student's time there.
No graduation rate data was available in what we reviewed. No information on AP coursework, dual enrollment, career pathways, chronic absenteeism, or special education and English learner services was present in the data provided. Those are meaningful gaps for any family trying to understand what a student's day looks like here or what exit pathways the school supports, and a direct conversation with Horizon Institute's staff would be the clearest way to fill them. The district brief search found no recent publicized changes specific to Duval County schools that could be confirmed in time for this report.
Jacksonville itself is a sprawling city, largely car-dependent, with the southside corridor where the school sits being an auto-oriented suburban area. Publicly reported figures place Jacksonville among the faster-growing metro areas in the country, and downtown is undergoing visible redevelopment with major residential and civic projects underway. The housing market near the school's zip code reflects values above the Florida statewide median, with rents that have softened slightly year over year. The city's major employer base spans health care systems led by Baptist Health, Amazon's logistics presence, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, financial services firms, and Duval County Public Schools itself.
The comparison framework noted that there are only two districts in Duval County, making a meaningful peer comparison against county districts not possible with a large enough cohort to be reliable.
Horizon Institute is a specialized setting designed for students whose circumstances or needs make a conventional school placement the wrong fit. Families who find themselves in contact with this school should ask specifically about what the school does to close academic gaps, what supports exist for students with IEPs or language needs, and what the path forward looks like for a student who stabilizes and wants to re-enter a standard track or pursue a credential.
See more original research from School Decision →