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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,750
High
DISTRICT 1,012 · STATE 1,035
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·POLK·NCES 120159001785
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
1810 PARKER ST W, LAKELAND, FL 33815 · (863) 499-2818 · Polk County
GRADES 07–12HIGH21-SUBURBCHARTERREGULAR SCHOOL1,750 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 89% of Florida public high schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Florida public high schools
Student : Teacher
23.6:1
74 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.0:1 · STATE 23.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
634 students
DISTRICT 65% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 315 | 18% |
| Grade 8 | 312 | 18% |
| Grade 9 | 321 | 18% |
| Grade 10 | 287 | 16% |
| Grade 11 | 265 | 15% |
| Grade 12 | 250 | 14% |
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 67% · 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
Test scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
73.8%
FL avg 56.7% . -0.1pp since 2023
Math
83.0%
FL avg 58.9% . +3.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 83 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 73.8% | 83.0% |
| 2023-24 | 73.8% | 79.2% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of FL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
77.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
63.0%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+14.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 77% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 63% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 14 points, placing it in Florida's top 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 MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY's state test result (77.2% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY this school | 1,750 | 36.2% | 77.2% |
| PARRISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL PARRISH | 2,266 | 36.1% | 59.7% |
| LECANTO HIGH SCHOOL LECANTO | 1,735 | 36.1% | 48.1% |
| J.R. ARNOLD HIGH SCHOOL PANAMA CITY BEACH | 1,629 | 32.0% | 52.5% |
| CHARLOTTE HIGH SCHOOL PUNTA GORDA | 1,872 | 36.5% | 52.6% |
| FLEMING ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL ORANGE PARK | 1,765 | 30.7% | 79.3% |
Matched among Florida high 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 MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 77.2% | #62 of 555 | #1 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 83.0% | #33 of 549 ▲ 2 | #1 of 19 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.8% | #95 of 559 ▼ 24 | #2 of 20 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,750 | #223 of 830 | #11 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.6:1 | #374 of 575 | #13 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.6% | #343 of 594 | #21 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 36.2% | #409 of 630 | #23 of 23 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +19.3% | #79 of 246 | #5 of 12 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,750
+30 (+2%) vs 2020
+191% since 1990-91, when it was 601
Student : Teacher
23.6:1
was 22.9:1
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 | 1,750 | 74 | 23.6:1 | 36% (634) |
| 2023-24 | 1,722 | 77 | 22.4:1 | 36% (621) |
| 2022-23 | 1,727 | 77 | 22.4:1 | 35% (604) |
| 2020-21 | 1,720 | 75 | 22.9:1 | 31% (527) |
| 2017-18 | 1,467 | 135 | 10.9:1 | 25% (361) |
| 2015-16 | 1,306 | 88 | 14.8:1 | 20% (260) |
| 2010-11 | 1,038 | 78 | 13.3:1 | 26% (271) |
| 2000-01 | 847 | 5 | 169.4:1 | 19% (163) |
| 1990-91 | 601 | 36 | 16.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY.
About MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is a large high school in LAKELAND, Florida, under POLK. The school reports 1,750 students in grades 7 through 12. The school's enrollment is 69% above the 1,035 average for high schools in Florida.
A total of 163 schools make up POLK, with 116,552 students enrolled.
A majority of students at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY, 63%, are White. Next come 23% Hispanic, 8% Black, 4% Asian, and 2% multiracial. The chance that two students picked at random at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 55%.
Its teaching staff equals 74 full-time positions, a ratio of 23.6:1. Across high schools in Florida, the average ratio is about 23.5:1. Around 36% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Compared with the 65% average for public schools in Polk County, the school's rate is lower.
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is graded A by allk12, scoring above 89% of Florida public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is 14.2 points above expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the top 10% in Florida.
In the county around the school, Polk County, median household income is about $65,978, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 11% of people live in poverty. MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is among the 172 public schools in Polk County.
Nearby, KATHLEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL is about 0.9 miles away. MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Nearby schools average 55.4% on proficiency, and MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is above that at 77.2%.
The school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, according to its NCES locale (Suburb: Large). The school is classified as a charter school in federal data.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment held near 1,750, starting from 1,720.
If you have questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY, you can post them here. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Polk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
790,694
Census ACS
Median income
$65,978
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
172
117,004 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in POLK
- HAINES CITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,105 students
- DAVENPORT HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,731 students
- WINTER HAVEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,648 students
- RIDGE COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,632 students
- GEORGE W. JENKINS SENIOR HIGHHigh · 2,469 students
- BARTOW SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,276 students
Other schools in LAKELAND
- GEORGE W. JENKINS SENIOR HIGHHigh · 2,469 students
- LAKELAND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,985 students
- LAKE GIBSON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,973 students
- KATHLEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,861 students
- SOUTH MCKEEL ACADEMYElementary · 1,200 students
- LAKE GIBSON MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 1,149 students
Nearby schools
- KATHLEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL0.9 mi · 1,861
- JESSE KEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.1 mi · 621
- POLK FULL TIME ESCHOOL1.1 mi · 429
- POLK VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION PROGRAM1.1 mi · 17
- MAGNOLIA MONTESSORI ACADEMY1.2 mi · 182
- IDEA LAKELAND1.3 mi · 452
Frequently asked questions
About MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGYHow large is MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY?
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY enrolls approximately 1,750 students in grades 07-12.
What grades does MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY serve?
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY serves grades 07-12.
How many students per teacher at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY?
Approximately 23.6:1 students per teacher at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY.
What is the racial breakdown of students at MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY?
At MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY, the student body is approximately 63% White, 23% Hispanic, 8% Black, 4% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY public or private?
MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY is a public K-12 school operated as a charter, overseen by POLK.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.