Best Public Schools in Hialeah, FL

The city of Hialeah, Florida, is home to 46 public and charter schools within the Miami-Dade school district, serving a diverse community from elementary through high school with a high level of economic need, as indicated by an average free/reduced lunch rate of 60.5%.

Standout schools in Hialeah show a wide performance gap. The clear academic leader is Jose Marti Mast 6-12 Academy, ranking in the 97th percentile statewide with a 100% graduation rate and test proficiency rates often exceeding 90%. At the elementary level, Hive Preparatory School (94th percentile) and Mater Gardens Academy (88th percentile) are top performers, with Mater Gardens boasting the city's lowest chronic absenteeism rate at just 12.3%. In contrast, James H. Bright Elementary/J.W. Johnson Elementary and Excelsior Prep Charter School Of Hialeah are the most challenged, both ranking in the 15th percentile. Excelsior Prep has the highest poverty rate in the city (95.47%), while James H. Bright has the highest elementary chronic absenteeism rate (34.2%).

A key paradox is that while all Hialeah high schools boast graduation rates above 96%, many have critically low academic proficiency in core subjects like Algebra 1 and English Language Arts. For example, Hialeah Senior High School has a 98.9% graduation rate but only a 26% proficiency rate in Algebra 1. Chronic absenteeism is a high school crisis, with every traditional high school exceeding 40%, including American Senior High School (52.6%) and Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High (50.6%). Notably, high spending does not guarantee success; the highest-spending traditional schools, like James H. Bright Elementary ($18,847 per student), are among the lowest-performing, while Jose Marti Mast spends a below-average $11,452 per student. The most improved school is Ernest R. Graham K-8 Academy, which jumped 15 percentile points to the 62nd percentile.