Miami Coral Park Senior High

Miami Coral Park Senior High is a large traditional public high school in Miami, FL, serving 2,082 students in grades 9-12 within the Miami-Dade district, and it has recently improved to a 3-star rating after a decade as a 2-star school.

The most notable feature of Miami Coral Park is its striking contradiction: a stellar 96.9% graduation rate that far exceeds district and state averages, yet academic proficiency scores that consistently fall below those same averages. For instance, only 48% of students are proficient in Algebra 1 compared to 69% district-wide, and 50% in 9th-grade ELA versus 63% district-wide. This "graduation gap" suggests that while students are earning diplomas, they may not be mastering the academic skills needed for college or careers. The school also struggles with a high chronic absenteeism rate of 37.6%, which is significantly worse than the district average of 28.2% and likely contributes to the lower test scores. On a positive note, math scores have shown a promising upward trend, with Algebra 1 proficiency nearly doubling from 25% to 48% over the past three years, indicating recent instructional changes may be taking effect.

When compared to nearby schools, the differences are stark. Just 3.6 miles away, Doral Academy Charter High School achieves 90%+ proficiency in nearly every subject and has a chronic absenteeism rate of only 19.2%, highlighting how school choice can lead to vastly different outcomes. Even among similar traditional "neighborhood" schools, Southwest Miami Senior High outperforms Coral Park in most subjects and has a lower absenteeism rate (25.4%). Interestingly, Miami Coral Park spends $11,562 per student—more than Doral Academy ($9,969) or nearby Pinecrest North Preparatory High School ($9,748)—suggesting that funding is not the issue, but rather how resources are allocated and used for instruction.