The top reported proficiency rate is 63% in Math. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Springwood Elementary School
Springwood Elementary sits on Fred George Road in northwest Tallahassee, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within Leon County Schools. The school is a conventional public elementary, not a charter or magnet program, drawing from a neighborhood where home values run well below the Florida statewide midpoint and meaningfully below the national median. Rents in the surrounding zip code are modest by Tallahassee standards, and the area has seen only slight appreciation over the past year. For families weighing housing costs alongside school choice, this corner of Tallahassee is among the more accessible in the metro.
The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high-poverty enrollment context. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available in what was provided, so parents of children with those needs may want to ask the school directly about support services and staffing.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and warrants honest attention. Fourth grade stands out: math proficiency for that grade reached a clearly strong level, and ELA proficiency ran well above the school's other grades. Those fourth-grade results are genuinely good. Third and fifth grade tell a different story. Math proficiency for both grades sits just above half of students, and ELA proficiency for third graders is low enough that fewer than four in ten students tested at grade level. Fifth-grade ELA lands in the mid-range, and fifth-grade science proficiency on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment is low, with fewer than a third of students reaching proficiency. Taken together, Springwood's overall proficiency index lands below the midpoint among the schools with comparable data relative to districts in Leon County. The fourth-grade results suggest the school can produce strong academic outcomes in at least one cohort; the gaps in third and fifth grade are real and a parent would be reasonable to ask the school what specific supports are in place to close them.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so there is no way from this data set to tell whether proficiency is rising, falling, or holding steady. That context would matter for a family trying to read whether recent efforts are gaining traction.
Tallahassee itself is a city shaped by state government, three universities, and a healthcare sector, all of which anchor stable employment in ways smaller Florida cities cannot match. The publicly reported major employers include the State of Florida, Florida State University, Leon County Schools, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, and Florida A&M University. The northwest part of the city where Springwood sits is largely residential and car-dependent, as most of Tallahassee is outside its walkable downtown, Midtown, and university corridors. Families who want proximity to the city's civic amenities, parks like Cascades Park and Maclay Gardens, or the public library's downtown branch will likely be driving rather than walking. StarMetro, the city-owned bus system, operates cross-town routes and serves Leon County students, though the data does not specify routing near Fred George Road.
Leon County is adding housing and expecting continued population growth. Planners have flagged a need for substantially more homes and are amending the comprehensive plan to allow denser development, with several large mixed-use and single-family projects already completed or underway. That growth context could affect enrollment at Springwood over time, though the data does not project specific changes for this attendance zone.
The district brief search found no confirmed parent-relevant changes at the Leon County Schools district level in curriculum, budget, or policy that could be reported here from reliable sources, so that was left out rather than guessed at.
For a family weighing Springwood, the fourth-grade academic results show what the school is capable of. The weaker results in other tested grades, combined with absent trend data and limited information on support services, mean there are real questions worth asking before enrolling, particularly for families whose children may need additional reading or science support in grades three and five.
See more original research from School Decision →