Lenora Braynon Smith Elementary, Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Lenora Braynon Smith Elementary

Lenora Braynon Smith Elementary sits on NW 12th Avenue in Miami, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The school is on the smaller side for its grade band, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across the grades. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which tells you something meaningful about the economic context families here are navigating. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic in roughly equal shares, with very small populations of other groups. Data on English learner status and students with IEPs was not available in this dataset, so parents with children who may need those services should ask the school directly.

State testing results for the 2024-25 school year, measured through Florida's FAST assessments, show that math proficiency is well below majority levels at every tested grade. Third grade is the strongest of the three, but rates fall noticeably in fourth and fifth grade. Reading and ELA results follow a similar arc: third grade shows the highest share of proficient students, fourth the lowest, and fifth slightly higher but still well below half. Fifth grade science, measured by the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, came in around a quarter of students testing at the proficient level. These are candid figures, and parents considering this school for a child who may need reinforcement in literacy or math should discuss the school's specific intervention and support programs before enrolling.

Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this dataset whether results have improved, declined, or held steady over recent years. A graduation rate does not apply here because the school ends at fifth grade.

The comparison framework available covers districts within Miami-Dade County, and the dataset noted the county contains only a small number of districts, which made a valid proficiency-index comparison unavailable. Chronic absenteeism data was also absent. These gaps mean positioning this school precisely against peers in the county is not possible from the data at hand.

The neighborhood context matters for families thinking about daily life. The school's NW 12th Avenue address puts it in the urban core of Miami, a city that is publicly reported as highly walkable overall, with transit options including Metrorail and the free Metromover serving downtown and connecting neighborhoods. The surrounding city offers access to a substantial public library system, green spaces including a large downtown park along Biscayne Bay, and a dense mix of commercial life.

Housing near the school sits in a zip code where home values are notably higher than Florida's statewide median and well above the national median, though they have edged down modestly year over year. Rents have ticked up. The rent-to-income ratio here runs high, meaning housing costs consume a considerable portion of household income for many families in the area. For buyers, the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home in this zip code is a substantial figure even at a modest down payment.

At the district level, a few things are worth knowing. Miami-Dade voters approved a school property tax increase in 2022 directed at teacher pay and campus safety; that rate is set to expire in 2027 unless renewed, which will be a live question for homeowners. Publicly reported in spring 2026, the district is also working through a round of school closures and consolidations driven by enrollment decline, and families new to the area should verify boundary assignments carefully, since reconfiguration proposals could affect which school a child is assigned to. A statewide shift on student cell phone policy is also in process, with a full-day prohibition moving through Florida's legislature and a district-wide policy required by end of 2026.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 69% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 68% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 62% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 338%

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

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

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 59% · ▼ 32 pts below district

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

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 60% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 56% · ▼ 31 pts below district

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

This schoolMIAMI-DADE, 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-income40%Higher-income32%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income22%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income28%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income45%Higher-income54%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income39%14 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income26%Higher-income32%6 pp gap