Summary:
Zip code 33127 in Miami, Florida, is home to two middle schools serving grades 6-8: Jose De Diego Middle School and Mater International Preparatory, both part of the Miami-Dade school district.
Mater International Preparatory is the standout school in this area, showing strong upward momentum. It ranks in the 71st percentile statewide (4-star rating) for the 2025-2026 school year, a significant improvement from its 3-star rating in prior years. In contrast, Jose De Diego Middle School ranks in the bottom 10% of Florida middle schools (9th percentile, 0-star rating) and has been consistently low-performing for three years. Mater International Preparatory dramatically outperforms Jose De Diego in academics, with average math proficiency of 79.7% versus 33.7%, and average ELA proficiency of 67% versus 34%. Notably, Mater achieves these results despite serving a higher-poverty population (85.85% free/reduced lunch) compared to Jose De Diego (58.89%), and with significantly less per-student spending ($7,500 vs. $14,281) and larger class sizes (26.5:1 student-teacher ratio vs. 15.7:1).
The most critical factor explaining the performance gap appears to be chronic absenteeism. Jose De Diego Middle School has a staggering 50.1% chronic absenteeism rate—far exceeding district (28.2%) and state (31.4%) averages—while Mater International Preparatory has a low rate of 15.2%. This suggests that school culture and attendance are stronger drivers of success than spending or class size. Both schools have subject-specific weaknesses: Mater's 8th-grade science proficiency (35%) lags behind district and state averages, while Jose De Diego struggles systemically, with particularly alarming scores in 8th-grade science (20%) and 6th-grade math (21%).
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