Addie R. Lewis School, Valparaiso FL

Original Research by School Decision on Addie R. Lewis School

Addie R. Lewis School sits on Mississippi Avenue in Valparaiso, a small Florida Panhandle town tucked against the east gate of Eglin Air Force Base along Choctawhatchee Bay. It serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, meaning students spend nearly a decade here before moving on to high school. The school is part of the Okaloosa County School District, which has publicly reported earning a top state academic rating every year since Florida began issuing school grades, placing it among a very small group of Florida districts with that kind of sustained record. That district context matters when reading this school's numbers.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture at Addie R. Lewis is mixed but has clear strengths in the upper grades. In reading and language arts, seventh and eighth graders reached proficiency at rates that sit comfortably above the majority of Florida schools, and sixth graders were also solid. Earlier grades in ELA were more moderate, with third through fifth grade proficiency in the upper fifties to mid-sixties range. Math tells a similar story: seventh grade math proficiency was notably strong, sixth grade was strong as well, but fourth and fifth grade math results were below the midpoint, and parents of students in those grades may want to ask the school directly what supports are in place. Third and eighth grade math fell in the mid-to-upper fifties. Science proficiency at fifth grade was solid, and eighth grade science was among the stronger results in the building. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these patterns are improving or holding steady.

Enrollment is mid-sized for a PK-8 campus, spread relatively evenly across grade levels with a noticeable concentration in the fifth through eighth grade range. The student body is majority white, with Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races each representing meaningful shares, and Black students making up a smaller portion. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a genuinely mixed economic community rather than clustering at either extreme. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in the data provided, so families with students in either category should contact the school directly.

The Valparaiso community itself is shaped almost entirely by Eglin Air Force Base, whose east gate abuts the town. A large share of the local workforce is in the armed forces or in professional and technical services tied to the base, which produces a transient but engaged population of military families. Homes here are older, many built in the mid-twentieth century, and values are publicly reported as more modest than neighboring Niceville. Current home values in the area are slightly below the Florida state average and near the national average, and have been roughly flat year-over-year. Rents sit at a level that takes a manageable share of a median income. The town is largely built out, with growth happening one infill lot at a time rather than through new subdivisions.

Eglin's noise footprint is a real factor for residents: a Joint Land Use Study has recommended buyouts and demolition of some homes in the Plat 1 area east of John Sims Parkway, and the city has publicly opposed that plan. Families buying in Valparaiso should look into where specific addresses fall relative to that zone.

At the district level, Okaloosa voters passed a half-cent sales tax for school capital improvements, funding renovated classrooms, technology upgrades, HVAC and roof repairs, and new school buses across the county, with a citizens' oversight committee tracking expenditures. The district also publicly reported breaking ground on a new K-8 school in Crestview, the first new school construction in some years, aimed at relieving overcrowding that has reached nearly every campus. Addie R. Lewis students who continue through Okaloosa schools will eventually have access to a district that publicly reports a strong graduation rate and a range of pathway options at the high school level, though this school itself does not serve high school grades and so carries no graduation data of its own.

Program details specific to Addie R. Lewis were not available in the data provided. Families interested in arts, athletics, enrichment, or student support programming would want to check the school directly or visit the Okaloosa district website.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 66% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 68% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 65% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 65% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 775%

School 75% · District 77% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 26 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 56% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 59% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 63% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 61% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 68% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 773%

School 73% · District 64% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 64% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 8 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 875%

School 75% · District 63% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

This schoolOKALOOSA, 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-income74%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income59%Higher-income69%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income61%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income76%36 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income72%Higher-income75%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income58%Higher-income80%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income36%Higher-income84%48 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income55%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income49%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income82%32 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income74%Higher-income77%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income58%Higher-income50%8 pp gap