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What's the most underrated thing about WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
704
Elementary
DISTRICT 623 · STATE 604
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WALTON·NCES 120198002018
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
815 LINCOLN AVE, DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, FL 32435 · (850) 892-1250 · Walton County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL704 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 83% 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.
- A+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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.6:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
70%
493 students
DISTRICT 47% · STATE 50%
Community
6
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 | 115 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 110 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 111 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 122 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 118 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 128 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (115) is 10% smaller than its 5th grade class (128).
Student demographics
59%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
59.6%
FL avg 56.7% . -4.0pp since 2023
Math
66.4%
FL avg 58.9% . -2.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 66 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores are down about 4 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 | 59.6% | 66.4% |
| 2023-24 | 63.6% | 68.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of FL schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
65.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.1%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+19.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 65% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 46% 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 19 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 WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's state test result (65.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL this school | 704 | 70.0% | 65.2% |
| EASTSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BROOKSVILLE | 754 | 70.7% | 46.6% |
| BELLEVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BELLEVIEW | 681 | 67.4% | 43.7% |
| STANTON-WEIRSDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WEIRSDALE | 588 | 70.6% | 34.7% |
| RICHEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEW PORT RICHEY | 750 | 72.3% | 25.0% |
| SCHRADER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEW PORT RICHEY | 572 | 71.0% | 40.2% |
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 WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Walton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 65.2% | #636 of 2,136 | #4 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 66.4% | #805 of 2,149 ▼ 211 | #5 of 6 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.6% | #854 of 2,149 ▼ 266 | #5 of 6 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 704 | #693 of 2,267 | #4 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #355 of 2,077 | #3 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.3% | #920 of 2,108 | #2 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 70.0% | #456 of 2,188 | #3 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +8.5% | #365 of 621 | N/A |
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
704
+35 (+5%) vs 2020
+13% since 1990-91, when it was 624
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
was 14.5:1
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 | 704 | 50 | 14.1:1 | 70% (493) |
| 2023-24 | 699 | 47 | 14.9:1 | 71% (494) |
| 2022-23 | 669 | 48 | 13.9:1 | 69% (460) |
| 2020-21 | 669 | 46 | 14.5:1 | 65% (432) |
| 2017-18 | 649 | 43 | 15.1:1 | 69% (449) |
| 2015-16 | 669 | 41 | 16.3:1 | 72% (481) |
| 2010-11 | 611 | 40 | 15.3:1 | 68% (417) |
| 2000-01 | 707 | 39 | 18.1:1 | 59% (420) |
| 1990-91 | 624 | 36 | 17.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
About WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a medium-sized elementary school located in DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Florida. The student body numbers 704 students, from kindergarten through 5.
WALTON is made up of 22 schools with 12,069 students in all.
By race and ethnicity, WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is 58% White. Other reported shares: 23% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 8% multiracial. That is lower than the 84% White share among all Walton County residents. By the diversity index, WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes in at 59%.
The school reported 50 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 14.1:1. For comparison, elementary schools in Florida average 17.5:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 70%. That is higher than the 47% average for public schools in Walton County.
allk12 grades WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL an A-. The grade compares the school only with Florida public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
The BeatsExpectations model predicts 46.1% for WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The actual figure is 65.2%. The 19.1-point gap ranks in the top 10% of Florida schools.
Walton County has these Census figures: median household income is about $81,986, about 35% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 9%. WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is among the 26 public schools in Walton County.
Nearest public school: WALTON INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS IN EDUCATION (WISE), about 1.4 miles away. The five-mile area around WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL holds at least 8 other public schools. WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's average proficiency of 65.2% compares with 57.8% for its nearest scored neighbors.
In the federal locale system, WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is coded Rural: Fringe, for schools in rural territory close to an urban area.
Federal counts put enrollment at 669 in 2020-21 and 704 in 2024-25, a 5% rise.
Community posts for WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL can cover sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Walton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
82,948
Census ACS
Median income
$81,986
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
12,069 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in WALTON
- SOUTH WALTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,127 students
- FREEPORT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 1,120 students
- WALTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 969 students
- DUNE LAKES ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 924 students
- VAN R. BUTLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 914 students
- EMERALD COAST MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 872 students
Other schools in DEFUNIAK SPRINGS
- WALTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 969 students
- WALTON MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 796 students
- MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 554 students
- MOSSY HEAD SCHOOLElementary · 521 students
- WALTON INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS IN EDUCATION (WISE)Combined · 264 students
- WALTON ACADEMY INC.High · 130 students
Nearby schools
- WALTON INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS IN EDUCATION (WISE)1.4 mi · 264
- WALTON HIGH SCHOOL1.5 mi · 969
- WALTON MIDDLE SCHOOL1.7 mi · 796
- WALTON LEARNING CENTER1.8 mi · 34
- MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.9 mi · 554
- WALTON VIRTUAL FRANCHISE2.3 mi · 21
Frequently asked questions
About WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHow many students attend WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL enrolls approximately 704 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serve?
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is approximately 14.1:1 (50 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
At WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 58% White, 23% Hispanic, 10% Black, 0% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL public or private?
WEST DEFUNIAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by WALTON.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.