Goulds Elementary School

Goulds Elementary School in Homestead, FL, serves 497 students in grades PK through 5 and is part of the Miami-Dade school district, a 4-star rated district.

Goulds Elementary is a low-performing school, consistently ranking in the bottom 20% of Florida elementary schools over the past decade, with a current 1-star rating and a state percentile rank of 16. A critical challenge is its exceptionally high chronic absenteeism rate of 39.8%, which is more than double that of nearby Cutler Ridge Elementary School (23.4%) and nearly six times higher than Somerset Academy Silver Palms (6.8%). While the school spends a relatively high $17,569 per student and maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 14.2:1, these resources have not translated into improved academic outcomes. A glimmer of hope exists in 3rd Grade Math, where 49% of students were proficient, though this still falls below district and state averages.

Comparing Goulds to nearby charter schools reveals a striking paradox. Both Somerset Academy Silver Palms and Somerset Academy Silver Palms At Princeton serve a similar or higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students (86% and 83%, respectively, compared to Goulds' 71%), yet they achieve top-tier academic results in the 94th percentile. These schools also spend significantly less per student ($8,960) and have larger class sizes, demonstrating that poverty is not destiny and that school culture and instructional models matter greatly. The data suggests Goulds is caught in a vicious cycle where high absenteeism leads to low test scores, which further demotivates families, and previous interventions have not been effective in breaking this pattern.