The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 57% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Sunland Park Academy
Sunland Park Academy is a public elementary school in the northwestern part of Fort Lauderdale, serving children from pre-kindergarten through third grade. Because Florida's state assessments are given starting in third grade, the school has only one year of tested data available, reflecting just its oldest students. That is worth keeping in mind when reading any comparisons: the picture here is narrower than it would be for a school with a full elementary grade span.
On Florida's FAST assessments for third graders, the school's math results land in a solid range, with roughly two-thirds of tested students scoring proficient. Reading is somewhat lower, with a bit more than half reaching proficiency. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether those results are improving, holding steady, or declining. A parent who wants to understand the trajectory would be worth asking the school directly.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and very few students from other racial groups. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a community where economic pressure is real. Data on English learner enrollment and students with individualized education programs was not reported in the available records, so those support structures are a gap a family with those needs should ask the school to address directly. No information on programs, course access, staffing levels, or chronic absenteeism was available.
The school sits within the Broward County Public Schools district, one of the largest in the country and headquartered in Fort Lauderdale itself. A search for parent-relevant district changes did not turn up confirmed lasting changes before the research concluded, so that dimension is left out rather than filled with speculation.
The surrounding neighborhood is in the northwest quadrant of Fort Lauderdale, which sits apart from the waterfront enclaves and high-rise construction cycle reshaping downtown and the Las Olas corridor. Fort Lauderdale as a whole is publicly reported to be in a pronounced residential building boom, with many tower projects under construction or in review downtown, but that development energy is concentrated well away from the school's address. The city's canal system, beach access, and transit infrastructure, including Broward County Transit and the downtown Brightline station, are part of the broader environment for families who live here, though how much of that is convenient day-to-day depends on where in the city a family is actually based.
The local housing market, measured at the zip code level, shows home values running close to the Florida state midpoint and near the national average, with values having edged downward over the past year. Rents in the zip code have moved modestly upward over the same period. The rent-to-income ratio here is quite high relative to national norms, a meaningful affordability pressure for families in this part of the city.
For a family with a child entering pre-K through second grade, Sunland Park Academy is worth evaluating with the understanding that tested academic data covers only one grade and one year. The third-grade math results are reasonably solid; reading is less so. What the school looks like programmatically, how it supports students with disabilities or language needs, and whether those proficiency numbers are moving are all questions the available data cannot answer.
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