Silver Lakes Middle School, North Lauderdale FL

Original Research by School Decision on Silver Lakes Middle School

Silver Lakes Middle School sits on Tam O'Shanter Boulevard in North Lauderdale, a compact, densely settled residential suburb in north-central Broward County. The school serves grades six through eight as a regular public school within the Broward County district. Its enrollment is mid-sized for a middle school, spread fairly evenly across the three grade levels. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the working-to-middle-income character of the surrounding neighborhood. The student body is predominantly Black, with a meaningful Hispanic share and smaller populations of other backgrounds, which mirrors North Lauderdale's broader demographics as one of Broward County's more diverse communities. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in what was provided.

On Florida's state assessments, the picture in math is a real concern across all three grades. Proficiency rates sit well below the majority mark at each grade level, with eighth graders the lowest of the three. ELA results are modestly better but still leave most students below the proficiency threshold in every grade. Science, tested at eighth grade, follows a similar pattern. These are not small gaps from average, and a parent should ask the school directly about intervention supports, tutoring access, and how the school tracks individual student growth over the middle school years. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible from this data to say whether results are improving, holding steady, or declining. Program offerings were also not provided, so specifics about electives, extracurriculars, or any specialized pathways could not be assessed here.

The comparison framework for Broward County produced only one district in the county cohort, so no meaningful peer comparison of proficiency or other metrics was possible from that structure.

North Lauderdale itself is a built-out suburb, developed mostly during a construction wave decades ago, with housing stock that leans toward modest single-family homes and townhouses. Home values in the zip code sit close to the Florida statewide median and have seen a modest year-over-year dip, as has rent. Renting here consumes a very large share of a typical household's income relative to national norms, which is a real constraint for families weighing housing options. The neighborhood is largely car-dependent; publicly reported walkability scores place most parts of North Lauderdale on the lower end of walkable areas. There is no traditional downtown. Civic life centers on parks, and the city is publicly reported to pack a notable number of them into its small footprint, including Hampton Pines Park with trails and a lake, and the Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center with a junior-Olympic pool. A community shuttle connects to Broward County Transit routes, which matters for families without reliable car access.

The city's growth is now slow and incremental. It is essentially a mature suburb, not an area seeing new development pressure, which tends to mean stable neighborhood character rather than rapid change. The Caribbean influence on local culture, including Trinidadian and Jamaican dining, is publicly noted and consistent with the community's demographics.

For a family choosing Silver Lakes, the academic performance data warrants serious attention and direct conversation with school leadership about support structures. What the data cannot capture is the quality of individual teachers, the school climate day to day, or whether particular students are finding strong footing there. Those are questions worth putting to the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 63% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 59% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 47% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 65% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 60% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 59% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 45% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

This schoolBROWARD, 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-income43%Higher-income42%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income39%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income37%Higher-income42%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income33%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income25%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income23%Higher-income31%8 pp gap