Summary:
In zip code 33186, four elementary schools—Devon Aire K-8 Center, Jack David Gordon Elementary School, Calusa Elementary School, and Claude Pepper Elementary School—serve students from Pre-K through 5th grade (with Devon Aire extending to 8th grade) within the Miami-Dade school district, offering a range of academic environments from elite performers to those showing strong improvement.
Calusa Elementary School is the standout in this area, consistently ranking in the top 2% of all Florida elementary schools with a 5-star rating. It leads in nearly every academic metric, including 97% of 3rd graders proficient in math and 89% of 5th graders proficient in science—far exceeding district and state averages. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (7.4%) and the lowest percentage of students on free/reduced lunch (26.33%). In contrast, Devon Aire K-8 Center excels in advanced high school-level courses, with near-perfect proficiency in Algebra 1 (91%) and Geometry (97%), though it shows a notable dip in 7th-grade math proficiency (46%). Jack David Gordon Elementary School performs solidly across the board, ranking in the 81st percentile, but has the highest chronic absenteeism rate (17.3%) among the four.
An interesting finding is the inverse relationship between spending and performance: Calusa Elementary has the lowest per-student spending ($11,957) yet the highest scores, while Claude Pepper Elementary School has the highest spending ($18,210) and the highest economic need (49.16% free/reduced lunch) but the lowest overall performance. However, Claude Pepper is on a clear upward trajectory, improving from a 3-star to a 4-star rating and achieving the highest 5th-grade math proficiency (80%) among the schools in 2025-2026, likely aided by its low student-teacher ratio of 11.9:1. Overall, families in this zip code have strong options, with Calusa offering elite academics and Claude Pepper showing promising growth.
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