Zellwood Elementary, Zellwood FL

Original Research by School Decision on Zellwood Elementary

Zellwood Elementary sits on Washington Street in a small, unincorporated corner of northwest Orange County, set against a backdrop of large-lot ranch homes, former cornfields, and the muck farmland that once defined this part of Central Florida. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and draws students from a community that is quiet, car-dependent, and genuinely rural in character, even as new residential development presses in around it.

The school's student body is moderately sized for its grade band. Hispanic students make up the largest share of enrollment, with Black and white students each representing meaningful portions of the population as well. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which signals a community with real economic pressures. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs were not available in what we reviewed, so a parent with specific questions about those services would want to ask the school directly.

On Florida's state assessments, Zellwood Elementary's results across reading, math, and science land below the midpoint among the districts we could compare within Orange County. Math proficiency is strongest in the earlier tested grades and trails off by fifth grade. Reading proficiency is relatively flat across grades three through five, and in each grade fewer than half of students tested at the proficient level. Fifth-grade science proficiency comes in just above half. These are modest results by statewide standards, and parents who want to understand what instructional support the school provides to students who are behind grade level would be well-served to raise that question with school staff.

Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether performance has been moving in a particular direction.

The place itself is a particular kind of environment. Zellwood is publicly reported as a suburban-rural mix, with high homeownership, an older median age, and very limited walkability or commercial activity. Residents drive to everything. The main corridor connecting the area to broader Orange County and the Orlando metro runs along West Orange Blossom Trail. The Zellwood Community Center on Union Street serves as a local gathering point, and the Lake Apopka Wildlife Trail is nearby for outdoor access. Library service comes through the Orange County Library System, with the nearest branch in Apopka rather than in Zellwood itself.

The housing market in the school's zip code sits modestly below both the Florida state median and the national median, and values have dipped slightly year over year. That relative affordability is part of what draws families here. At the same time, the area is publicly reported to be on the edge of meaningful growth: several new single-family subdivisions are under construction or planned, a large former farm property is slated for mixed-use development, and national builders have active projects here. Families considering this area should factor in what that growth means for the school's enrollment trajectory and for the rural character that currently defines Zellwood's appeal.

The parent district is Orange County Public Schools, one of Florida's largest. We looked for specific district-level strategic priorities or recent programmatic changes relevant to parents, but the research budget was exhausted before those could be confirmed, so we left that out rather than guess. Program-specific information for Zellwood Elementary was also not available in the data provided.

For a family drawn to rural quiet, affordable housing, and a tight geographic community, Zellwood fits that profile clearly. The academic picture is one where proficiency rates across all tested subjects fall below the county comparison group, and parents who prioritize assessment benchmarks as a primary indicator will want to weigh that carefully and have direct conversations with the school about how students are supported.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 63% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 64% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 58% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 59% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 59% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 58% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 62% · ▼ 9 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolORANGE, 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-income35%Higher-income62%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income47%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income48%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income69%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income51%Higher-income64%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income52%11 pp gap