River City Science Academy at Mandarin ranked No. 1 among Duval County's public K-8 schools in the 2027 Niche Best Schools rankings. The charter school network announced the results Thursday, Oct. 1.

The tuition-free charter school at 10911 Old St. Augustine Rd. also ranked No. 29 among public K-8 schools statewide and earned an overall Niche grade of A, according to the announcement. The rankings include traditional public, charter and magnet schools.

The ranking places RCSA Mandarin ahead of every other public elementary and K-8 campus in the county. The school also topped Niche's separate lists for best public elementary school and best public middle school in Duval County.

RCSA swept the top four K-8 spots countywide. Behind Mandarin, RCSA Southeast ranked No. 2, RCSA Intracoastal No. 3 and RCSA Innovation No. 4. Five RCSA campuses landed in the county's top 10 public elementary schools.

RCSA Mandarin serves 870 students in grades K-8, according to the network's 2024-25 enrollment report. Its approved capacity for the 2025-26 school year is 900 students, per RCSA Governing Board minutes from Feb. 6, 2025. The network typically sees a 95% re-enrollment rate, those minutes show.

The campus's 2024-25 Teacher of the Year, Ms. Traverso, and Mrs. Brown, who won the Cindy Edelman Excellence in Teaching Fellowship from the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, were among the staff recognized by the network that year.

RCSA Mandarin has earned an A grade from the Florida Department of Education in 2024-25, 2023-24, 2021-22 and 2020-21, according to the school's improvement plan and enrollment report. RCSA was the first charter school in Duval County to receive an A rating from the state, according to the network's 2023-24 impact report.

In its announcement, the network credited teachers, students, families and school leaders for the results. RCSA noted that rankings are only one measure of school success and that the published Niche data may be subject to updates.

The ranking arrives as Duval County Public Schools faces shifting enrollment. The district's student count fell below 100,000 for the first time in 50 years, as we reported Oct. 1. RCSA Mandarin, which opened in 2016 and holds a charter through 2039, continues to draw families in the Mandarin area.