Summary:
In zip code 33125, Miami, FL, there are three elementary schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through varying grades, all part of the Miami-Dade school district, an area with a mix of economic backgrounds and school performance levels.
Kensington Park Elementary School stands out as the highest-performing traditional public school in the area, consistently ranking in the 16th-24th percentile statewide with a 1-star rating. Its math proficiency rates in 3rd and 4th grades (60%) nearly match district averages, and it has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (24.8%) among the three schools, below the state average. In contrast, Citrus Grove K-8 Center is the largest school (1,583 students) but ranks in the bottom 2% of Florida elementary schools with a 0-star rating, showing critically low core subject scores—only 22% of 3rd graders were proficient in ELA compared to the district average of 64%. However, Citrus Grove paradoxically achieves 96-100% proficiency in advanced courses like Algebra 1 and Biology 1, suggesting selective placement for high-performing students. Early Beginnings Academy is a statistical outlier: a very small school (98 students) with extremely low free/reduced lunch rates (5.1%) and the highest per-student spending ($29,408), yet it has the highest chronic absenteeism rate (49.3%) and lacks any test score or ranking data, making its academic performance impossible to evaluate.
Key takeaways include that despite similar economic profiles (both around 53% free/reduced lunch), Kensington Park achieves significantly better results and lower absenteeism than Citrus Grove, proving school-level factors like leadership and climate matter. Additionally, high spending at Early Beginnings Academy does not guarantee low absenteeism, indicating non-financial challenges. The missing data for Early Beginnings Academy is a red flag, as it prevents any assessment of its value compared to the other schools in this zip code.
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