Summary:
Zip code 33952 in Port Charlotte, Florida, is home to two elementary schools serving grades PK-5: Neil Armstrong Elementary School and Peace River Elementary School, both part of the Charlotte school district.
Neil Armstrong Elementary is the clear standout in this area, consistently outperforming Peace River across nearly every academic metric. In the 2025-2026 school year, Neil Armstrong ranked in the 32nd percentile statewide, while Peace River ranked in the bottom 5th percentile. For example, 3rd-grade ELA proficiency at Neil Armstrong (59%) was nearly double that of Peace River (30%), and 3rd-grade math proficiency was 58% compared to 33%. Neil Armstrong also achieves better results with lower per-student spending ($13,101 vs. $15,643) and a slightly higher student-teacher ratio (15.2 vs. 14.6), indicating more efficient resource use. Peace River, however, shows a troubling downward trend, dropping from the 15th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 5th percentile in 2025-2026, and its proficiency rates often lag 20-30 percentage points behind district averages.
Both schools face similar socioeconomic challenges, with free/reduced lunch rates around 60-63%, and chronic absenteeism rates near 30%—close to district and state averages. This suggests that the performance gap is driven more by in-school factors like instructional quality and leadership than by poverty alone. For parents, Neil Armstrong offers a solid, average-performing school with a stable upward trend, while Peace River requires careful consideration due to its declining performance and need for intervention. The data clearly shows that higher spending does not guarantee better outcomes, making school-specific research essential when choosing an elementary school in this zip code.
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