Enrollment
282
Elementary
DISTRICT 414 · STATE 604
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ALACHUA·NCES 120003000021
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
21633 SE 65TH AVE, HAWTHORNE, FL 32640 · (352) 481-1901 · Alachua County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL282 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.3:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
76%
213 students
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 50%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 47 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 49 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 51 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 39 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 51 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (47) is 8% smaller than its 5th grade class (51).
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 70% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
QUIET COMMUNITY
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START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
36.4%
FL avg 56.7% . +7.4pp since 2023
Math
29.7%
FL avg 58.9% . -2.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 36 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores are up about 7 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 36.4% | 29.7% |
| 2023-24 | 29.0% | 31.8% |
% at Level 3 or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: FAST / B.E.S.T.. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
33.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.3%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 34% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Florida's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's state test result (33.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL this school | 282 | 75.5% | 33.9% |
| FIVE POINTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LAKE CITY | 349 | 75.6% | 40.4% |
| ANTHONY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ANTHONY | 351 | 70.1% | 47.9% |
| MIMS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MIMS | 393 | 68.2% | 43.9% |
| MYRTLE GROVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PENSACOLA | 435 | 81.4% | 42.8% |
| MERRIAM CHERRY STREET ELEMENTARY PANAMA CITY | 343 | 64.1% | 45.4% |
Matched among Florida elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Alachua County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.9% | #2,008 of 2,136 | #25 of 27 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #2,109 of 2,149 ▼ 66 | #24 of 27 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 36.4% | #1,908 of 2,149 ▲ 119 | #24 of 27 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 282 | #2,015 of 2,267 | #22 of 31 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #791 of 2,077 | #18 of 24 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.4% | #605 of 2,108 | #16 of 24 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 75.5% | #263 of 2,188 | #6 of 29 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.9% | #418 of 1,374 | #9 of 21 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
282
-80 (-22%) vs 2020
-36% since 1990-91, when it was 443
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 13.4:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 282 | 18.5 | 15.2:1 | 76% (213) |
| 2023-24 | 323 | 25.5 | 12.7:1 | 85% (273) |
| 2022-23 | 355 | 25.1 | 14.1:1 | 82% (291) |
| 2020-21 | 362 | 27 | 13.4:1 | 81% (294) |
| 2017-18 | 361 | 27 | 13.4:1 | 83% (300) |
| 2015-16 | 308 | 23 | 13.4:1 | 73% (226) |
| 2010-11 | 195 | 15 | 13.0:1 | 85% (166) |
| 2000-01 | 352 | 23 | 15.3:1 | 80% (281) |
| 1990-91 | 443 | 24 | 18.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
About CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL operates as a small elementary school in HAWTHORNE, Florida. It has an enrollment of 282 students in kindergarten through 5. On average, elementary schools in Florida enroll around 604, and this school is 53% below that mark.
ALACHUA includes 60 schools. Together they enroll 28,255 students.
The biggest share of students at CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 48%, is White. The remaining shares are 33% Black, 11% multiracial, and 8% Hispanic. Census estimates put the White share of Alachua County's population at about 61%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL scores 64%.
On staff are 18.5 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 15.2:1. Elementary schools in Florida have an average ratio of 17.5:1. About 76% of students at CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Alachua County average 48%.
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 33.9% is 9.5 points below the 43.3% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Alachua County is the school's county. There, median household income comes to about $61,949, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 49%, and roughly 11% of residents are in poverty. There are 68 public schools in the county, enrolling about 29,618, CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL among them.
HAWTHORNE MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL is about 0.3 miles from CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the shortest distance to any other public school. The five-mile area around CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL holds 2 other public schools. CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes in 7th of 8 nearby schools on average proficiency.
The federal government classifies CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's location as Rural: Distant.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 22% decrease, from 362 to 282. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 13.4:1 to 15.2:1.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Alachua County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
285,492
Census ACS
Median income
$61,949
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
49%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
68
29,618 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in ALACHUA
- F. W. BUCHHOLZ HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,416 students
- GAINESVILLE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,825 students
- EASTSIDE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,291 students
- SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,132 students
- KANAPAHA MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 1,014 students
- OAK VIEW MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 962 students
Other schools in HAWTHORNE
- HAWTHORNE MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 472 students
- OCHWILLA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 388 students
Nearby schools
- HAWTHORNE MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL0.3 mi · 472
- OCHWILLA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL4.4 mi · 388
- MELROSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL8.4 mi · 353
- EASTSIDE HIGH SCHOOL11.1 mi · 1,291
- LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL11.4 mi · 268
- ROBERT H. JENKINS JR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL12.3 mi · 844
Frequently asked questions
About CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHow large is CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL enrolls approximately 282 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serve?
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serves grades KG-05.
How many teachers does CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL have?
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.2:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
At CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 48% White, 8% Hispanic, 33% Black, 11% Two or more.
Is CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL public or private?
CHESTER SHELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by ALACHUA.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.