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What's the most underrated thing about MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
758
High
DISTRICT 1,012 · STATE 1,035
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·POLK·NCES 120159001773
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE
800 4TH ST S, LAKE WALES, FL 33853 · (863) 678-4233 · Polk County
GRADES 06–11HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL758 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of Florida public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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
24.4:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.0:1 · STATE 23.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
608 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 6 | 110 | 15% |
| Grade 7 | 144 | 19% |
| Grade 8 | 172 | 23% |
| Grade 9 | 133 | 18% |
| Grade 10 | 123 | 16% |
| Grade 11 | 76 | 10% |
Student demographics
66%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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE→TRANSITION SCHOOL
Based on grade levels within POLK. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
28.0%
FL avg 56.7% . +2.9pp since 2023
Math
18.9%
FL avg 58.9% . -4.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 19 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 28.0% | 18.9% |
| 2023-24 | 25.1% | 23.4% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of FL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
25.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
41.0%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 26% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 41% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE's state test result (25.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE this school | 758 | 80.2% | 25.9% |
| FORT MEADE MIDDLE/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL FORT MEADE | 731 | 76.6% | 49.4% |
| MOORE HAVEN MIDDLE HIGH SCHOOL. MOORE HAVEN | 498 | 72.3% | 42.2% |
| TENOROC HIGH SCHOOL LAKELAND | 1,141 | 72.7% | 32.6% |
| LAKE REGION HIGH SCHOOL EAGLE LAKE | 1,568 | 72.3% | 34.2% |
| HAMILTON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL JASPER | 808 | 72.3% | 37.3% |
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 MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.9% | #554 of 555 | #19 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 18.9% | #514 of 549 ▼ 84 | #12 of 19 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.0% | #556 of 559 ▼ 1 | #20 of 20 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 758 | #441 of 830 | #18 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 24.4:1 | #421 of 575 | #17 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.2% | #134 of 594 | #12 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.2% | #11 of 630 | #1 of 23 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.8% | #180 of 289 | #6 of 11 |
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
758
+307 (+68%) vs 2020
-24% since 1990-91, when it was 999
Student : Teacher
24.4:1
was 11.0:1
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 | 758 | 31 | 24.4:1 | 80% (608) |
| 2023-24 | 666 | 33 | 20.2:1 | 76% (507) |
| 2022-23 | 542 | 35 | 15.5:1 | 68% (369) |
| 2020-21 | 451 | 41 | 11.0:1 | 69% (311) |
| 2017-18 | 813 | 52 | 15.6:1 | 70% (570) |
| 2015-16 | 847 | 52 | 16.3:1 | 68% (576) |
| 2010-11 | 787 | 57 | 13.8:1 | 83% (657) |
| 2000-01 | 788 | 55 | 14.3:1 | 53% (421) |
| 1990-91 | 999 | 54 | 18.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE.
About MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE operates as a low-enrollment high school in LAKE WALES, Florida. It offers grades 6 through 11 and has 758 students enrolled. High schools in Florida have about 1,035 students on average; enrollment here is 27% lower.
Besides MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE, POLK runs 162 other schools. The district enrolls 116,552 students.
No group is above 50% at MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE; the largest is Hispanic, at 44%. After that, the student body is 28% Black and 26% White. Among all residents of Polk County, the Hispanic share is about 29%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 66%.
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE reports a ratio of 24.4 students per teacher, from 31 full-time-equivalent teachers. The gap from the 23.5:1 average for high schools in Florida is 1.0 students per teacher. Student poverty is often measured by lunch eligibility; at MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE, 80% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The gap from the 65% average for public schools in Polk County is 15 points.
Among Florida public high schools, MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE outscored 4%, which works out to an F on the allk12 Grade.
The school's average proficiency rate across its state test results, 25.9%, is 15.1 points below the 41.0% the model predicts from its free or reduced-price lunch share. That result is in the bottom 10% of Florida schools.
In Polk County, the median household earns about $65,978 a year, roughly 24% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The county's public schools total 172, with about 117,004 students.
A public school about 0.6 miles away, POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, is the closest to MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE. Of 7 schools in the immediate area with test results, MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE ranks 7th on average proficiency.
For locale, NCES codes MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE as Suburb: Large.
Enrollment was 451 in 2020-21 and 758 in 2024-25. Large swings like this can come from changes to the grades a school serves. The ratio was 11.0:1 in 2020-21 and 24.4:1 in 2024-25.
People can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 LAKE WALES
- LAKE WALES SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,597 students
- EDWARD W BOK ACADEMY NORTHMiddle · 726 students
- HILLCREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 667 students
- BOK ACADEMYMiddle · 640 students
- SPOOK HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 574 students
- POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 523 students
Nearby schools
- POLK AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.6 mi · 523
- HILLCREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.2 mi · 667
- EDWARD W BOK ACADEMY NORTH1.3 mi · 726
- SPOOK HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.6 mi · 574
- ROOSEVELT ACADEMY1.8 mi · 279
- VICTORY RIDGE ACADEMY1.9 mi · 321
Frequently asked questions
About MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCEHow large is MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE?
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE enrolls approximately 758 students in grades 06-11.
What age range does MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE serve?
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE serves students from grade 06 through grade 11.
How many teachers does MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE have?
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 24.4:1.
What is the student diversity at MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE?
Student demographics at MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE are roughly 26% White, 44% Hispanic, 28% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE public or private?
MCLAUGHLIN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE is a public K-12 school, overseen by POLK.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.