Palm Bay Academy Charter School, Palm Bay FL

Original Research by School Decision on Palm Bay Academy Charter School

Palm Bay Academy Charter School sits on Palm Bay Road NE in the northeast quadrant of Palm Bay, the largest city by land area in Brevard County and one of Florida's most rapidly growing communities. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade under a charter arrangement within the Brevard district, drawing from a city that is predominantly residential, car-dependent, and built outward from its original master-planned subdivisions rather than around any traditional town center.

The school enrolls a modest number of students for a K-8 campus. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning this is a school serving an entirely economically disadvantaged population. The racial and ethnic composition is broadly diverse, with Black students making up the largest share, followed by white students, then Hispanic students, and smaller groups across other categories. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available in what was provided.

State assessment results from Florida's FAST and Statewide Science assessments tell a mixed story across grade levels. In math, the picture is uneven: third grade comes in at a low-to-moderate level, fourth and fifth grades are quite low, but sixth and seventh grades perform considerably better, with eighth grade settling near the third-grade range. The pattern in ELA is somewhat more consistent across grades, with elementary results in the low-to-mid range and middle school grades performing somewhat better, particularly sixth grade. Science proficiency at both tested grade levels sits in the lower range. Taken together, the upper-elementary grades in math are a soft spot worth a parent asking the school about directly. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether scores are improving, declining, or holding steady.

No graduation rate applies here because the school ends at eighth grade. There are no AP courses, dual-enrollment pathways, or career programs to report because those belong to high school, which this school does not serve. Program offerings beyond the core were not included in the data provided.

The comparison framework available covers districts within Brevard County, and the county cohort for this purpose contains only two districts, which means the data does not support a meaningful proficiency ranking against peers. That gap is noted rather than filled.

Palm Bay itself is worth understanding as context. The city is publicly reported as one of the fastest-growing areas in Florida, with enormous master-planned mixed-use developments under way primarily in the southeast, developer-funded road infrastructure in progress, and a projected build-out population far beyond current levels. Growth has raised public concerns about school capacity, road congestion, and infrastructure strain. The housing market in the zip code shows home values moderately below the Florida statewide median, with a year-over-year decline, and rents running below the state norm as well, making this one of the more affordable entry points on the Space Coast. The city's economy leans on aerospace and defense employers, and civic amenities are spread across a dispersed park system including Turkey Creek Sanctuary and Fred Poppe Regional Park.

For a family weighing this school, the key facts are that it serves a fully Title I-equivalent population in terms of economic need, that math proficiency in the fourth and fifth grades is particularly low while middle school grades perform better, that ELA is more stable though still below majority-proficient in most grades, and that the school feeds into a Brevard high school for ninth grade rather than continuing its own pathway. A parent interested in specific intervention supports, the school's instructional model as a charter, or its approach to students with disabilities and English learners would want to ask the school those questions directly, since that information was not in the data available here.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 59% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 60% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 57% · ▼ 42 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 72% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 64% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 41% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 58% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 58% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 60% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 70% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 62% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 59% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Science

Grade 530%

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

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

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 53% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

This schoolBREVARD, 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 3Lower-income35%Higher-income59%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income40%Higher-income60%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income65%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income53%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income62%Higher-income58%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income46%6 pp gap