Stellar Leadership Academy

Stellar Leadership Academy is a small high school in Miami, FL, serving 312 students in grades 9-12 as part of the Miami-Dade district, but it is in a state of severe academic distress, consistently ranking in the bottom 5% of Florida high schools over the past decade.

The most alarming metric is the graduation rate: only 20.3% of students graduated in the 2024-2025 school year, a staggering 73 percentage points below the district average of 93.1%. This is compounded by extreme chronic absenteeism, with 75% of students missing significant school—nearly three times the district rate. Test scores are near-zero across subjects, with Algebra 1 proficiency at 12%, Geometry at 2%, and Biology at 8%, compared to district averages of 60-75%. The school's performance is so poor that it rivals nearby alternative "Success Centers" designed for at-risk students, which also struggle but serve a different population.

What makes this failure particularly stark is the contrast with William H. Turner Technical Arts High School, located less than 2 miles away in the same zip code. Turner Tech boasts a 97.2% graduation rate, 27.2% chronic absenteeism, and test scores often exceeding district averages, proving that the challenges at Stellar are not due to the neighborhood alone. Spending per student is similar at both schools (around $10,000), pointing to severe internal dysfunction at Stellar. The only glimmer of hope is US History proficiency at 27%, which may indicate a specific effective program. This school requires urgent, complete intervention to address its systemic collapse.