First Coast High School

Jacksonville, FL 32218

Phone: (904) 757-0080
Fax: (904) 696-8721
District: Duval

3

GreatSchools Rating

public • Grades 9,10,11,12 • 1975 students

First Coast High School, a public school located in Jacksonville, FL, serves grades 9-12 in the Duval County Public Schools.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 3 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.

First Coast High School is a public school located in Jacksonville, FL. 1975 students attend First Coast High School.

School Ratings

Category Rating Details
Test Scores 4/10 The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Florida Assessment of Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education, and using 2025 Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education.
College Readiness 3/10 The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using 2019 Average SAT score data from Florida Department of Education, using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Florida Department of Education, and using 2026 demographic data from Florida Department of Education.
Student Growth 1/10 The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Florida Department of Education.

Posted: April 17, 2025

First Coast is a great school! They care about the students, and they support the staff where necessary. They prepare students for college, and for those that don't want to go to college, they are prepared for the work force. I love this school!

Posted: April 17, 2025

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Posted: April 17, 2025

Dumbest school to ever exist. Haven't cleaned or changed anything in 15yrs.

Posted: April 17, 2025

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Posted: August 2, 2024

I was a 4 year alumi 2020-2024 learned nothing but got my diploma not that that is hard at this school

Posted: August 2, 2024

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Posted: November 8, 2023

in terms of safety i would say its not a safe school as there was a shooting within the first 3 weeks of school starting this year, but besides that its alright.

Posted: November 8, 2023

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Posted: November 16, 2022

AWFUL school. It is a great school though for parents and students who just don’t care.
Every quarter my sons grades magically went from D’s and F’s to B’s right at the end of the quarter. This school cooks the books and will make sure every student passes no matter how little they learned. I even brought this up with principal Fluent. Nothing ever changed.
Besides that there are fights occurring daily. Unsafe school to boot. I’m taking my son out of this school.

Posted: November 16, 2022

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Posted: September 25, 2018

Posted: September 25, 2018

Posted: September 25, 2018

Posted: September 25, 2018

Posted: September 25, 2018

I'm not a student, but from what I've seen in the hours and days I've spent in the guidance office at registration, the kids seem to all get along no matter what their background. I've seen jocks chatting with emos, girls on fleek walking with skinny white boys with glasses, the kids seem to get along beautifully.

Posted: September 25, 2018

It is a big school and the students have to want to succeed. No one is going to hold their hand. However, everything they need to succeed is there if they want to pursue it. The school counselor and ESE counselor have been tremendously helpful with scheduling and services. Overall organization and discipline leaves something to be desired but overall, if my kid's happy and thinking about his future after high school, then I'm happy too.

Posted: July 31, 2018

Maybe for the core favorites, but if you have a hard time in school and have special needs, good luck.

Posted: July 31, 2018

I'm sure they try, but with so many kids being bused in from all over, class sizes commonly over 35-40 per class, its struggling. The admin dept is off the rails. My son's records have been wrong for a year and a half, both in credits and grades.

Posted: July 31, 2018

Multiple meetings with staff and not much achieved. Told how too many students makes it hard to tend to everyone efficiently. My son's first week last year, a teacher held up his work and asked him with a laugh why he writing is so horrible and he'd have to do it over....my son has a disability. Should have been a sign for me to pull him out then.

Posted: July 31, 2018

Posted: July 31, 2018

Assigned work is fairly standard and not particularly good or bad.

Posted: July 31, 2018

I'm sure everyone means well, but had two different teachers after my student being there for MONTHS could tell me nothing about their progress. Reason each time was that they had over 40 students in several classes and hadn't had a real chance yet to get into his background. He has an IEP and has disabilities. Shouldn't that be a standard review criteria for your year??

Posted: July 31, 2018

I have pulled out my son to do home schooling. Some serious retooling of the acceptance policy needs to take place. Kids should not get lost in the crowd so easily. I've had my kids in about 10 different schools across 30 years of moving in the military, and this one is the most broken, sadly.

Too many students, and not enough staff. Those with disabilities need to look elsewhere. Felt very forgotten quickly. Administration and particularly the guidance office/registration need to tighten the reins. Bad initial recommendations of classes led to credits not being carried over and courses taken and not needed. Wasted time.

Posted: September 5, 2017

TERRIBLE. Aside from the obvious lack of dedication academically for the future of our youth, the schools administration is not invested in the weaknesses happening right in front of them.

Posted: September 5, 2017

Posted: September 5, 2017

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Posted: September 5, 2017

The principal of this school is the first one to ignore the obvious bullying happening, refuses to discuss the schools plan in place for bullying and would MUCH rather gloat about himself than get anything accomplished.

Posted: July 24, 2017

My daughter is enjoying her experience at First Coast. Staff are involved in helping the students through their day to day learning tasks.

Posted: July 24, 2017

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Posted: April 6, 2016

I just do. First coast a good academics school. Just gotta watch your back and don't start no drama.

Posted: October 20, 2015

The teachers are horrible to being with and the justice is terrible I'm a student and I've been robbed threatened and followed around this school and they don't do anything they view the victim as the suspect and find the easiest way to blame it on the victim so that they don't have to do the work they don't follow up they don't know how to do their job and they allow things to happen even when you go to them about the threats I don't recommend this school what so ever just spare your child's scaring and send them some where else I absolutely don't like this school they call them selves a school well in my opinion there full of sh*t I'd give it no stars if I could !

Posted: October 12, 2015

The purpose of this school is to process kids through it as quick as possible. Whether they learn or not. In an out in 4 years that's the goal. College readiness is not the goal. I guess we can t do anything but leave the county, for a better education or pay a private school.

Posted: October 12, 2015

Teachers carry a big burden it is very hard to teach over 25 students per class.

Posted: October 12, 2015

Every day I ask my son (yes although he is in high school I ask) and 90% of the time is no

Posted: October 12, 2015

Football has a better budget than the entire school, recruiting for football takes precedence to all else.

Posted: May 31, 2015

This Principal has little control of the staff and is terribly disorganized. The Principal of the school, Dr Brennan met with me on two occasions. On one of these we were interrupted five times in the first few minutes by other staff members coming into the office for various reasons. Both times Dr. Brennen was going to get back with me within a week and neither time did he ever do so. Teachers refuse to return calls as well. The staff refers to any parents attempting to participate and show interest as "The peanut gallery." My son's medical documents were lost three times.
Staff members catching students with drugs just take the drugs and tell the child not to do it again. I wonder where the drugs end up. Students make drug transactions in plain view of others because of lack of interest by staff. Student fights are almost a daily occurrence.
While claiming to want to make academics his leading task it appears that this school goes to great lengths to recruit athletes from other schools. It appears that Dr. Brennen's lack organization and perhaps feckless managerial skills has turned an A school to a D school in his short time here.

Posted: May 21, 2015

Posted: May 21, 2015

There is little guidance at this school. You have to find your own way much of the time.

Posted: May 21, 2015

Posted: May 21, 2015

Posted: September 1, 2014

The Principal of the school, Dr Brennan, received one star for leadership because it will not allow me to leave zero stars. In only half a year, he has taken a school that had just been designated an "A" school and dumped it into the toilet. He has effectively ended all extracurricular activities with the exception of football by requiring the activity leaders to submit written plans for all activities and fundraisers for the year, and then refusing to approve or deny them. The chorus has been bumped from a free event because they did not RSVP in time. They will not have their uniforms in by the scheduled date of their first concert, because they haven't been approved. The male choir and the jazz band have been terminated, for no real explanation. All band classes are now the same, so that juniors and seniors who have played all the way through high school are now stuck in classes with freshmen who don't know which end of their instrument to blow into. He states that he wants to focus on academics, but is obviously so short sighted that he doesn't realize that limiting or eliminating extracurricular activities is going to cause his best students to go elsewhere.

Posted: August 20, 2014

I agree with another parent about trying to be involved and getting nowhere with the staff. Last year my son was in 9th grade and I made multiple attempts to meet with the guidance counselor. First two calls went to voice mail, which was full, so I couldn't leave a message. Third call I left a message but never received a phone call in return. Emailed each of his teachers and only received a response from two. One was Luke warm at best, while the other was very supportive. Front office staff is extremely rude when you have questions and they can rarely give you an answer. ROTC is their only saving grace for my child. If your child is highly motivated to get high grades, they will probably be fine. But if your child is like so many other kids, they all not be supported and encouraged and parent involvement seems almost unwelcome.

Posted: April 5, 2014

This is an A school. The teachers and students have worked hard to strive for a school grade that reflects the achievements of the students, not public opinion. If you ever really want to know what happens in a school get involved by doing more than complaining and making phone calls, show up for school events or volunteer. Spend some time really getting to know the wonderful students in this school for yourself. Many awards, scholarships (both academic and athletic), industry certifications, early college classes, are all accomplished by the students at this school.

Posted: October 23, 2013

I just started attending this school. There are uncertified teachers here who don't know anything. One teacher asked me to correct his mistakes because when I came to the school i knew the concepts. Its the beginning of the second nine weeks and the class is on the 2nd week of school work because the teachers for the class kept quitting. Very unorganized. Kids are disobedient and hinders learning for those who want to.

Posted: August 14, 2013

Awful. Extremely disorganized, staff and guidance shows no care, interest, or respect for students, poor teaching that causes problems when taking standardized/AP tests, security guards that show favoritism and allow certain kids to skip classes, a general feeling of incompetence and lack of safety. Not to mention the blatant racial prejudice shown by the staff and majority of students. Overall, awful experience. If you want your child to receive a quality education in a safe environment, this is not the school for them.

Posted: August 4, 2013

first coast high school is a wonderful school . but the dress code is wayyyy to strict hopefully that would change this year

Posted: August 3, 2013

First Coast High school is a Five Star place of learning. I give the school its stars by the location of the school and the disciplinary of their students. If respect is not present among the staff and student the learning is in vain within our society.

Posted: June 17, 2013

First Coast High School is the school that my whole family has graduated from. Everyone says the school is horrible and saying how the teachers don't care, how we fight every day, or how it's not safe. Our teachers do care. I'm going into the 10th grade, and my freshman year was great. The teachers knew we were scared about entering highschool and they did everything they could to help us feel at home. I was in the AP/Honors program and my teachers did everything to help me and other students get ready for my exams and the FCAT. Next, we don't fight every day. We may have a few fights every week but it's not everyday. Wherever you hear that, they're over exaggerating. Another thing, First Coast is one of the safest schools. You can't walk out of a classroom without running into security. They make sure that students are where they're supposed to be. So stop putting the school down, and learn the truth. Just because our grade is bad, doesn't mean it's a bad school. First Coast is like home to a lot of students, especially me. The faculty are like parents and care for the students. Send your child to First Coast and have them join the family, they'll love it and so will you.

Posted: April 16, 2013

First Coast is a wonderful school! Teachers care about their students, and want them to succeed. There are bad apples at any school, don't let that 1% prevent your child from attending one of the best schools in Duval County!

Posted: January 21, 2013

I wouldn't suggest this school to my worst enemy. I have talked to guidance counselors who were clueless. All this school is concerned with is winning football games. They could careless about the children's education, although I have met with some teachers who long to do more but can't. The classrooms are overcrowded and some of the teachers are only there to collect a paycheck. My daughter did her freshman year in HS in Illinois and due to having to relocate because of my job, my daughter's experience in high school has taken a turn for the worse and as a parent who is much involved with my children's education. I am highly disappointed. My daughter completed her 9th grade in Illinois, came to First Coast and they still registered her in the 9th grade when she was suppose to be in 10th and haven't fixed it yet as they said they would and she is suppose to be entering her senior year. This mess is crazy!

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