Summary:
Zip code 32818 in Orlando, Florida, is home to 10 schools within the Orange district, serving a diverse range of students from elementary through high school, including alternative schools, with a high average free/reduced lunch rate of 62.4% indicating significant economic need.
The standout school in the area is Prairie Lake Elementary, the only school with a 3-star rating and a state rank in the 63rd percentile, consistently outperforming district and state averages, especially in 3rd-grade Math (72%) and 5th-grade Science (69%). In contrast, other elementary schools like Hiawassee Elementary, Lake Gem Elementary, Pinewood Elementary, and West Oaks Elementary all rank in the bottom 31% of Florida elementary schools, creating a wide performance gap. At the middle school level, Robinswood Middle is a bright spot in Algebra 1, with proficiency rates of 88% and 80% far exceeding district and state averages, despite its overall low rank. The only traditional high school, Acceleration West, shows strength in end-of-course exams like Geometry (80%) and US History (85%), but its state rank dropped sharply from the 59th to the 29th percentile, raising concerns about stability. The lowest-performing school is Innovations Middle Charter, with a 0-star rating and a 74.1% chronic absenteeism rate.
Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue, averaging 33.1% across the zip code, with the highest rates at Silver Pines Academy K-12 Learning Center (75.2%) and Innovations Middle Charter (74.1%). The alternative schools, Silver Pines Academy and Magnolia School, have astronomically high per-student spending ($173,521 and $82,710) and very low student-teacher ratios (2.7 and 5.2), yet they struggle with poor academic outcomes, including a 10% graduation rate at Silver Pines. This highlights the immense challenge of serving at-risk populations, while traditional schools like Robinswood Middle spend just $10,598 per student with a ratio of 20.1, showing a stark contrast in resource allocation and performance across the area.
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