The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bunche Park Elementary School
Bunche Park Elementary sits in Miami Gardens, a sprawling suburban city in the northern reaches of Miami-Dade County. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade and draws a small enrollment for a school of its grade band. The student body is overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, and a large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of the surrounding neighborhood. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the materials reviewed.
On Florida's statewide FAST assessments, the school's results are mixed and lean below the midpoint in most tested grades. Third-grade math stands out as a relative strength, with more than half of students scoring proficient. Reading and math results in fourth and fifth grade fall below that, and fifth-grade ELA and science results are the softest in the picture, with fewer than half of students reaching proficiency in each. These are the state-reported figures from 2024-25, and multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether performance has been rising, falling, or holding. A parent who wants to understand the trajectory would want to ask the school directly about that.
The comparison framework was limited here. The county-level cohort used for positioning includes very few districts, which made a formal proficiency comparison inapplicable. The graduation rate metric does not apply to an elementary school, and chronic absenteeism data was not reported. Program details were not available in the materials reviewed.
Miami Gardens itself is a city of about twenty square miles, publicly described as the third largest city in Miami-Dade County. The built environment is largely auto-oriented, with strip malls, surface parking, and commercial corridors rather than a walkable center. The city has publicly identified place-making as a goal, and a major civic and commercial development is publicly reported to have broken ground in 2024 near Hard Rock Stadium, which anchors the city's entertainment identity. Parks, youth sports, the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex, and Tri-Rail access along the city's southeastern edge are among the civic amenities publicly reported.
Housing near the school carries a typical home value above both the statewide and national medians, with values trending slightly down over the past year while rents continue to rise. Rents in this zip code sit at a level where rent-to-income is noticeably stretched relative to national norms, a relevant consideration for families weighing the area.
At the district level, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has been navigating real change. Voters approved a property tax increase in 2022 to fund teacher pay and school safety, with that higher rate running through 2027. More immediately, publicly reported enrollment decline has prompted the district to propose closing or consolidating up to nine schools, with new grade configurations such as K-8 and K-12 schools possible. Families considering a move into the area should ask directly whether Bunche Park's attendance boundary or operational status is affected by these proposals, since reassignments have been part of the ongoing process. Florida is also moving toward a statewide cell phone restriction policy, which would shape classroom norms across Miami-Dade schools once finalized.
For a family with young children in this neighborhood, Bunche Park offers a small-school setting in a prekindergarten-through-fifth-grade public school. The academic results, particularly in upper-elementary reading and science, sit below the majority of students reaching proficiency, and a parent may want to ask the school about what support structures are in place for students who are not yet at grade level. The absence of trend data and program detail makes a fuller picture difficult to assemble from public sources alone.
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