The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Math. The lowest is 72% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Sunset Lakes Elementary School
Sunset Lakes Elementary sits in the western edge of Miramar, a suburban city in southern Broward County where master-planned lakeside communities, gated subdivisions, and a growing corporate corridor define the landscape. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, so graduation rates and high school metrics simply do not apply here, and the relevant question for families is how well younger children are prepared in reading, math, and science before they move on.
On that measure, the picture is genuinely strong. Florida's FAST assessments show third graders performing at a high level in both math and ELA, and fifth graders are similarly high in math and solid in ELA and science. The one grade that draws attention is fourth grade, where both math and ELA proficiency dip relative to the grades on either side. The gap is real and a parent might reasonably ask the school how it addresses the transition into that year. That said, the overall pattern across tested grades is well above what many Florida elementary schools post, and the fifth-grade science result adds to the picture of a school where academic expectations hold through the upper elementary years.
The school is a mid-to-large elementary for its grade band, with enrollment spread across prekindergarten through fifth grade. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse: Hispanic students form the largest group, followed by Black students, then White students, with a meaningful Asian presence as well. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a broad economic range without being predominantly high-poverty. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in this dataset, so a parent with a child in either category would want to ask the school directly about those supports.
Broward County operates Sunset Lakes as a regular public school with no magnet designation, and program offerings were not detailed in the data provided. Title I status was also not reported. The comparison framework for this school's county has only one district entry, so a meaningful peer comparison against neighboring districts was not possible from the available data.
The Miramar housing market surrounding this school is expensive. Home values in the immediate zip code are well above both the Florida state median and the national median, and rents are high enough that rent-to-income pressure is substantial by conventional affordability benchmarks. Values have slipped slightly over the past year, but the area remains one of the pricier residential markets in Broward County. Families buying here are typically paying a significant premium, and that premium extends across both ownership and rental options.
Miramar itself is car-dependent in most of its residential fabric, and the area around this school reflects that pattern. Daily errands, school drop-off, and most activities require a car. The city's walkable focal point, the Town Center civic complex with City Hall, the public library, and the Cultural Center, is a deliberately built downtown rather than an organic one, and it is not within easy walking distance of this part of the city. What the setting does offer is the physical character of master-planned family neighborhoods: sidewalks, lakeside loops, and the kind of suburban calm that draws families with young children.
The city is continuing to grow and develop, with new mixed-use projects advancing and ongoing infrastructure investment. Some residents have publicly pushed back against the density of newer construction, seeing it as a shift from the suburban character that attracted them. Whether that tension resolves in favor of more urban density or remains suburban is genuinely open, and it matters for how this community feels five to ten years from now.
District-level changes for Broward were not found in the research for this brief, so we left that section out rather than speculate about priorities or administrative direction.
See more original research from School Decision →