Enrollment
376
Elementary
DISTRICT 641 · STATE 604
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·POLK·NCES 120159001717
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
2650 SOUTHWEST AVE, LAKELAND, FL 33803 · (863) 499-2830 · Polk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL376 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 64% of Florida public elementary schools
- B-Test 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.3:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
78%
292 students
DISTRICT 65% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 18 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 47 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 60 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 61 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 69 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 63 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (47) is 19% smaller than its 5th grade class (58).
Student demographics
69%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
50.5%
FL avg 56.7% . +5.9pp since 2023
Math
50.9%
FL avg 58.9% . -10.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 6 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 10 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.5% | 50.9% |
| 2023-24 | 44.6% | 61.3% |
% 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
54.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.3%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+12.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 42% 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 SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's state test result (54.4% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL this school | 376 | 77.7% | 54.4% |
| OSCAR J. POPE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LAKELAND | 365 | 80.8% | 48.0% |
| LACOOCHEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DADE CITY | 296 | 76.7% | 43.7% |
| AUBURNDALE CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AUBURNDALE | 371 | 74.9% | 41.5% |
| GULFSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HOLIDAY | 393 | 75.6% | 35.2% |
| KATHLEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LAKELAND | 453 | 78.8% | 41.4% |
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 SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.4% | #1,116 of 2,136 | #27 of 85 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 50.9% | #1,515 of 2,149 ▼ 620 | #37 of 86 ▼ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.5% | #1,273 of 2,149 ▲ 138 | #35 of 86 ▲ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 376 | #1,825 of 2,267 | #76 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #55 of 2,077 | #1 of 85 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.4% | #258 of 2,108 | #12 of 85 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 77.7% | #216 of 2,188 | #26 of 88 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.6% | #817 of 1,374 | #13 of 39 |
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
376
+1 (+0%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 519
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 11.4:1
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 | 376 | 31 | 12.1:1 | 78% (292) |
| 2023-24 | 380 | 27 | 14.1:1 | 76% (288) |
| 2022-23 | 382 | 29 | 13.2:1 | 60% (231) |
| 2020-21 | 375 | 33 | 11.4:1 | 64% (241) |
| 2017-18 | 430 | 29 | 14.8:1 | 62% (266) |
| 2015-16 | 477 | 34 | 14.0:1 | 63% (301) |
| 2010-11 | 460 | 37 | 12.4:1 | 76% (350) |
| 2000-01 | 540 | 30 | 18.0:1 | 59% (318) |
| 1990-91 | 519 | 27 | 19.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
About SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as an elementary school in LAKELAND, Florida. Federal data show 376 students enrolled in pre-K through 5 in 2024-25. Across elementary schools in Florida, the average enrollment is about 604.
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL reports to POLK, which has 163 schools and 116,552 students.
At SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Hispanic students make up the biggest share, 39%. Other students are 33% White, 21% Black, and 7% multiracial. By comparison, Polk County residents are about 29% Hispanic. The diversity index for SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is 69%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Staffing at SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes to 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 12.1:1. By comparison, the average for elementary schools in Florida is 17.5:1. SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL counts 78% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The rate at public schools in Polk County averages 65%, lower than here.
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL holds a B allk12 Grade, placing it above 64% of Florida public elementary schools.
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 54.4% is 12.2 points above the 42.3% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Census data for Polk County show median household income comes to about $65,978, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 24%, and about 11% of people live in poverty. There are 172 public schools in the county, enrolling about 117,004, SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL among them.
The closest school to SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is SOUTHWEST MIDDLE SCHOOL, located about 0.3 miles away. SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL at 4th of 8.
The NCES locale for SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is City: Mid-size, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 375 in 2020-21 and 376 in 2024-25.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on special education services, counseling, and support programs here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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
- MCKEEL ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGYHigh · 1,750 students
- SOUTH MCKEEL ACADEMYElementary · 1,200 students
Other Southwest Elementary schools
21 other US public schools in 14 states are named Southwest Elementary. SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the 18th largest of the 22.
- SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBAY SHORE, NY · 975 students
- Southwest ElementaryHigh Point, NC · 808 students
- Southwest Elementary SchoolSavannah, GA · 769 students
- Southwest Elementary SchoolSAN ANTONIO, TX · 728 students
- Southwest ElementaryJacksonville, NC · 720 students
Nearby schools
- SOUTHWEST MIDDLE SCHOOL0.3 mi · 746
- CLEVELAND COURT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.4 mi · 374
- DIXIELAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.8 mi · 344
- CARLTON PALMORE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.4 mi · 402
- MAGNOLIA MONTESSORI ACADEMY1.7 mi · 182
- ROSABELLE W. BLAKE ACADEMY1.7 mi · 562
Frequently asked questions
About SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHow large is SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL enrolls approximately 376 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serve?
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
Approximately 12.1:1 students per teacher at SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
What is the racial breakdown of students at SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
At SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 33% White, 39% Hispanic, 21% Black, 1% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in?
SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is part of POLK.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.