Summary:
The city of Pembroke Park, Florida is home to two elementary schools: Lake Forest Elementary School and Watkins Elementary School. Both schools serve students from prekindergarten through 5th grade and are part of the Broward County school district.
Based on the data, neither Lake Forest Elementary nor Watkins Elementary are standout performers. Both schools have relatively low academic proficiency rates compared to state and district averages, with proficiency ranging from 31% to 61% at Lake Forest and 28% to 53% at Watkins on the 2023-2024 FAST assessments. Additionally, the schools have high rates of chronic absenteeism, with 30.9% at Lake Forest and 36.3% at Watkins.
The student populations at both schools are predominantly African American, with 66.01% at Lake Forest and 69.35% at Watkins, and a high percentage of students from low-income families, with 82.38% and 85.93% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, respectively. Despite the high per-student spending at both schools, their academic performance does not seem to be commensurate with the level of funding, suggesting that factors beyond just funding, such as resource allocation, teacher quality, and community engagement, may be playing a significant role in the schools' challenges.
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