Summary:
The city of El Portal, Florida is home to two schools - Horace Mann Middle School and Dr. Marvin Dunn Academy For Community Education. Both schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of their respective school types in the state of Florida, indicating significant challenges in providing quality education to their students.
Horace Mann Middle School has a relatively large student population of 528, with a majority African American student body. While the school performs well above district and state averages in Algebra 1 and Biology 1 exams, it struggles significantly in English Language Arts and Math, with proficiency rates well below the norm. Additionally, Horace Mann has an alarmingly high chronic absenteeism rate of 42.5%, which likely contributes to its overall poor academic performance. In contrast, the smaller Dr. Marvin Dunn Academy, with a more even racial mix, performs poorly across all subject areas and has an extremely low 4-year graduation rate of only 45.8%.
Despite the stark differences in student population and academic outcomes, both schools face significant challenges. High chronic absenteeism, low test scores, and poor graduation rates suggest systemic issues that need to be addressed. The large discrepancy in per-student spending between the two schools, with Dr. Marvin Dunn Academy spending more than double the amount per student, raises questions about the efficient allocation of resources and the factors driving student success. Addressing these challenges and ensuring equitable access to quality education should be a top priority for the Miami-Dade school district and local policymakers.
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