Palm Bay Preparatory Academy 6-12, Panama City FL

Original Research by School Decision on Palm Bay Preparatory Academy 6-12

Palm Bay Preparatory Academy 6-12 is a charter school in Panama City, serving students from sixth through twelfth grade. Its address on Balboa Avenue places it within a city that is actively rebuilding, with a Community Redevelopment Agency working across four districts and a regional economy anchored by military installations at Tyndall Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Panama City, alongside healthcare, manufacturing, and hospitality employers.

The school is small. Enrollment thins noticeably in the upper grades, with the graduating cohort considerably smaller than the entering sixth-grade class. Whether that gap reflects attrition, transfers, or the school's relative youth as a charter is something a parent would want to ask directly. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available in what was provided.

About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a mixed economic profile. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with white, Hispanic, and Black students each representing a meaningful share of enrollment, and smaller groups of multiracial and Asian students present as well.

On Florida's state assessments, the academic picture is uneven across grades and subjects. In reading and ELA, the school performs at a solidly passing rate across the three tested middle grades, with eighth graders showing the strongest results. Science proficiency at the eighth grade is in a similar range. Math tells a more varied story: seventh and eighth graders score at a passing or near-passing level, but sixth-grade math proficiency falls meaningfully below that, which is a gap worth asking the school about directly. No comparison to county or state averages could be computed from the data available, so these results should be read as a starting point for conversation rather than a final verdict. Trend data across years was not available, so there is no way to characterize whether results are improving, holding steady, or declining.

State testing covers only grades six through eight under Florida's FAST assessment system. Grades nine through twelve are not assessed under that same framework, so academic data for the high school years is simply absent here, not a reflection on the school's performance. A parent of a prospective ninth grader would want to ask about course rigor, AP or dual enrollment access, and how the school prepares students for college or career. No program information was provided in the data, so those questions are genuinely open.

A graduation rate was not available in the data provided. Given how small the senior class is, this is a metric worth requesting from the school directly.

The housing market in the zip code shows home values noticeably below the Florida state median and well below the statewide average, making the area relatively accessible compared to much of Florida. Rents have been rising, though the rent-to-income ratio remains in a moderate range nationally. Panama City as a whole is in a phase of active investment, with new downtown housing, waterfront park improvements, and a substantial military-linked reconstruction effort shaping the regional economy. That context matters for families thinking about stability and long-term roots in the area.

The district brief for Bay County turned up no confirmed parent-relevant changes before research concluded, so that section was left out rather than filled with speculation.

For a family drawn to a smaller charter environment with a middle-through-high-school pathway, Palm Bay Preparatory is a genuine option to investigate. The thin upper-grade enrollment, the sixth-grade math data, and the absence of high school outcome measures are the clearest points that warrant a direct conversation with the school.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 21 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 60% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 50% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 58% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 61% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 57% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 55% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 52% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolBAY, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income70%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income57%Higher-income59%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income69%Higher-income62%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income35%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income57%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income75%Higher-income33%42 pp gap