The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in Science. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Highbanks Learning Center
Highbanks Learning Center sits on East Highbanks Road in DeBary, a residential city on the St. Johns River in southwestern Volusia County. It is a public alternative school serving kindergarten through grade twelve within the Volusia County school district. Understanding what this school is requires understanding what "alternative" means here: the enrollment is very small, concentrated heavily in the middle grades and especially grade eight, with only a handful of students across the elementary and high school years. This is not a traditional school of choice competing on programming breadth. It serves students who, for a range of reasons, need a placement outside a conventional school setting.
The proficiency data available from Florida's state assessments tells a clear story, and a parent deserves to hear it plainly. At the grades where results were reported rather than suppressed, math and reading proficiency rates are low, well below what you would see at a typical Volusia County school. Science results at the eighth-grade level are similarly modest. Most grade-level results were suppressed, which with an enrollment this small is expected: Florida withholds results when counts are too small to report without identifying individual students. The suppressed grades should not be read as strong; the school's population and purpose place it outside the context in which conventional proficiency comparisons are meaningful. A parent looking at these numbers should understand they reflect a student body that largely arrived at this school facing academic and circumstantial challenges, not a school being evaluated the same way a neighborhood elementary or comprehensive high school would be.
A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a population with significant economic need. The student body is roughly split between Hispanic and white students, with small representation of other groups. Data on students with IEPs or English learner status was not available in what was provided. No graduation rate data was available for this school. No program offerings, staffing ratios, attendance figures, or discipline data were provided, so those dimensions of the school's work cannot be described here. A parent interested in what specific supports, counseling, credit-recovery structures, or graduation pathways the school provides would need to ask the school directly.
The comparison fact-set covering districts in Volusia County had only one district in the cohort, so no meaningful peer comparison on proficiency or other metrics could be computed.
DeBary itself is a car-dependent suburban city, quiet and nature-oriented, built around the 17-92 corridor rather than a traditional downtown. Gemini Springs, the largest county park in Volusia County, is a nearby anchor, along with the only SunRail station in Volusia County, which provides weekday commuter rail connections southward. The city is actively developing a transit-oriented mixed-use district around that station, the first time DeBary has had anything resembling a downtown, with multiple residential and commercial projects in various stages of planning and construction. Home values in the area are broadly in line with the Florida state median, though they have dipped modestly year over year. Rents have moved slightly upward and, relative to a typical renter's income, carry a meaningful cost burden.
For a family arriving at Highbanks Learning Center through a district placement or referral, the key questions are about what the school does with students who are behind, disengaged, or in need of a structured alternative path. The low proficiency numbers are a fact to hold, not a verdict; what matters more in this context is whether the school's specific support structure, staff relationships, and credit pathways match what a particular student needs. That conversation belongs with the school itself.
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