South Woods Elementary School, Elkton FL

Original Research by School Decision on South Woods Elementary School

South Woods Elementary sits on a rural state road in Elkton, a small unincorporated community in southwestern St. Johns County where potato farming has shaped the local economy for generations. The school is set off from any commercial or residential center, which is consistent with Elkton itself having no traditional downtown. Families in the area are oriented toward St. Augustine for everyday services, and the school is part of the St. Johns County School District, with district offices headquartered there as well.

The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, which means no high school graduation data applies here, and the peer environment spans a fairly wide age range from very young children through the end of elementary. A substantial majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which is a higher share than many families might expect given St. Johns County's general reputation as an affluent district. Demographic data on students with IEPs or English learners was not available in the data reviewed.

On the most recent Florida statewide assessments, the picture is mixed. Math proficiency rises meaningfully across grade levels from third grade through fifth, which is an encouraging pattern. Reading proficiency follows a similar upward arc from third to fourth grade, then dips notably in fifth grade, which a parent may want to ask the school about directly. Fifth-grade science results land roughly near the midpoint. Placed against the two districts in St. Johns County, South Woods sits above the midpoint on an overall proficiency index that averages results across tested subjects and grades. That is a reasonable position, though proficiency levels across most grades are still well below what parents might find at other St. Johns County schools. Trend data was not available for comparison, so whether results have been improving or declining over time is not something this data can answer.

The community around the school is growing incrementally. Elkton draws families looking for a rural setting with more space and lower land costs than the county's developed corridors, and publicly reported real estate listings describe it as part of a fast-growing market. Home values in the area are roughly in line with the Florida statewide median and have dipped modestly year over year. Renters will note that formal rental market data for this zip code was not available. For buyers, the county-level housing cost carries a price-to-income ratio that leans toward the higher end by national standards.

Two ballot measures passed in November 2024 that shape the school's resource environment going forward. Voters approved a new property tax dedicated to school operations, with the publicly reported intent of directing most of the revenue to teacher and staff salaries and the remainder to school safety, mental health counselors, nurses, and programs including science, art, music, and athletics. That tax represents an ongoing cost homeowners in the district would carry. Separately, voters renewed the district's half-cent capital sales surtax for another multi-year term, maintaining the funding stream that has supported new construction and technology in a county adding students steadily. Both measures suggest a community that has recently chosen to invest in its schools through the ballot.

Program offerings specific to South Woods were not available in the data reviewed, so the range of electives, enrichment activities, or support services the school provides individually is a gap a parent would want to fill by contacting the school. Attendance and discipline data were also not reported in what was available. What the data does show is a school embedded in a genuinely rural, agriculture-rooted community, serving a student body with a high rate of economic need, producing assessment results that sit above the county's district midpoint but remain below majority proficiency in most tested grades and subjects.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 79% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 79% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 74% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 77% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 75% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 73% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 71% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

This schoolST. JOHNS, 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-income55%Higher-income46%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income74%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income56%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income42%Higher-income54%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income61%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income52%Higher-income75%23 pp gap