Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8 Center, Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8 Center

Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8 Center sits in Miami's urban core, at an address in the zip code that covers the Allapattah and Overtown corridor just northwest of Downtown. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, so it functions as a single continuous pathway from early childhood through middle school, sparing families a separate school transition until high school. It is a regular public school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, not a charter and not a magnet.

The student body is small for its grade span. Enrollment is spread relatively evenly across the lower grades and thins out by eighth grade, which is worth noting for families with children entering the middle years. The school is almost entirely Black and Hispanic, split nearly equally between those two groups, with very few students of other backgrounds. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this firmly among Miami-Dade's higher-poverty campuses. IEP and English learner counts were not available in the data provided, so parents with children in either category may want to ask the school directly about support services.

On Florida's FAST assessments, proficiency rates across the tested grades are low, a fact worth naming plainly. In math, somewhere between roughly a quarter and just over a third of students reached proficiency depending on the grade, with seventh grade coming in at the lower end of that range. ELA results were more varied: third grade was the strongest reading result and seventh grade was the strongest overall, approaching a majority of students proficient, while fourth grade was notably low. Science scores at both fifth and eighth grade were in roughly the same range as the weaker math grades. The school is not captured in the county-level comparison index because the comparison set in this data was too small to produce a meaningful relative ranking, so placement among peers in Miami-Dade cannot be stated here. Parents who want to understand how these results compare to similar schools in the district should ask Miami-Dade directly or look at the state's school-grade accountability reports.

The absence of multi-year trend data in what was provided means there is no way to say from this source whether performance has been improving, declining, or holding steady. That is a real gap for a parent trying to assess trajectory, and it would be worth asking the school.

Because Dunbar serves only through eighth grade, graduation rate is not applicable here. The pathway to high school is the relevant handoff to consider, and families should ask about how middle school students are prepared for high school placement in Miami-Dade's system.

The broader district context is active and somewhat unsettled. Miami-Dade has seen a sharp enrollment decline that prompted the district to propose closing or consolidating up to nine schools heading into the next school year. Dunbar itself is not named in that process in the data provided, but the boundary and restructuring discussions are real and families moving into the area should ask explicitly about reassignment risk. Separately, voters approved a property-tax referendum to fund teacher raises and school safety staffing, a cost that carries through to homeowners in the area until it expires or is renewed.

The housing market around this school is expensive relative to state and national benchmarks, with home values well above both the Florida and U.S. medians. Rents are also high and edging up, and rent absorbs a large share of local household income by national standards. The area is also quite walkable, served by Metrorail and the free Metromover, and connected to the civic and cultural infrastructure of Downtown Miami. For families not relying on a car, the location has real day-to-day convenience.

Program offerings for Dunbar were not available in the data, so there is nothing here about enrichment, arts, sports, or after-school programming. Asking the school what is available would give a much fuller picture than this data can.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 69% · ▼ 33 pts below district

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

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 68% · ▼ 32 pts below district

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

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 62% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 64% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 54% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 60% · ▼ 28 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 60% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 420%

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

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

Grade 531%

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

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

Grade 648%

School 48% · District 63% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 62% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 839%

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

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

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 56% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 46% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 15 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-income43%Higher-income47%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income6%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income27%Higher-income40%13 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income33%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income36%Higher-income37%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income22%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income30%Higher-income40%10 pp gap