Poplar Springs High School, Graceville FL

Original Research by School Decision on Poplar Springs High School

Poplar Springs High School sits on Atomic Drive in Graceville, a small rural city in Florida's Panhandle, and it is genuinely unusual in its structure: despite its name, it serves students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade all on one campus. That means a child could walk into this building in their earliest years of school and walk out with a diploma more than a decade later. For families in this part of Holmes County, that consolidation shapes nearly every aspect of the school experience.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students identifying as Hispanic, multiracial, or Black. Just over half of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic character of the surrounding community. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs were not available in the records we reviewed. The school does not hold charter or magnet status; it is a straightforward public school in the Holmes district.

On Florida's FAST assessments, results vary considerably by grade and subject. Third-grade math is a clear bright spot, with most students testing at or above proficiency. Sixth-grade ELA also comes in reasonably well. But across the middle grades in both reading and math, proficiency rates are more often below the midpoint than above it, and fifth-grade science shows a particularly wide gap. Eighth-grade math and seventh-grade ELA are among the weaker points in the picture. These are Florida state assessment results from the most recent school year available; no multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether scores have been moving up, down, or holding steady. Parents who want a fuller sense of academic momentum should ask the school directly about its trajectory. We looked for AP, dual enrollment, or career pathway information and found none reported in the available data, so that portion of the academic program is a gap we cannot speak to.

Graduation rate data was not reported in what we received, which is worth noting for families with high school-aged students. A parent may want to ask the school directly about its four-year graduation outcomes.

One concrete, recent change worth knowing: the Holmes district expanded free telehealth services to all of its schools in early 2025, through a partnership with PanCare of Florida. Students can see a licensed provider on campus during the school day, including diagnosis, lab testing, and prescriptions, at no cost to families regardless of insurance status. In a rural county where healthcare access is limited, that is a meaningful support for families.

The community around the school is quiet and affordable. Graceville's housing market sits well below both the Florida state median and the national median, and values have edged slightly downward over the past year. The local economy runs on lumber, agriculture, a correctional facility, and the small Baptist University of Florida campus. The town has a recognizable downtown with a library and city services, but day-to-day amenities are modest. There is no fixed-route public transit, and the nearest larger city, Dothan, Alabama, is publicly reported as a relatively short drive across the state line.

Poplar Springs fits a specific family profile: those who want their children in a single-campus community school from the earliest grades through graduation, who are rooted in or drawn to a rural, close-knit setting, and who value the stability of a place where staff likely know students across many years. The academic results in the tested grades show real unevenness, particularly in math through the middle years and in elementary science, and a parent who places strong weight on measured proficiency levels would want to weigh that carefully and have a direct conversation with the school about what supports are in place and where the program is heading.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 28 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 66% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 55% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 48% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 49% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 761%

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

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 32% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 57% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 43% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 53% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 56% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 55% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 47% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

This schoolHOLMES, 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-income47%Higher-income60%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income68%Higher-income50%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income68%Higher-income70%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income52%Higher-income50%2 pp gap