The top reported proficiency rate is 75% in Math. The lowest is 60% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Emerson Elementary School
Emerson Elementary sits on the southwest side of Miami, a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The school is small for its grade band, with enrollment spread across seven grade levels. Roughly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning economic diversity is present but the school is not overwhelmingly high-poverty on that measure alone. The student body is almost entirely Hispanic, reflecting the character of the surrounding neighborhood along the Coral Way corridor, where Latin American community life is deeply woven into the residential fabric.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is uneven across grade levels and subjects. Third-grade results stand out as a genuine strength: a large majority of third graders are proficient in both math and ELA, results that compare well against statewide expectations. Math proficiency holds up reasonably well into fourth grade, though it drops somewhat by fifth. ELA tells a more mixed story: fourth- and fifth-grade proficiency sits well below the third-grade peak, landing at roughly three in five students. Fifth-grade science scores land at about the same level as upper-elementary ELA. The gap between the strong third-grade results and the softer fourth- and fifth-grade numbers is something a parent would reasonably want to ask the school about, particularly whether there are specific supports for students in those transitional years.
Trend data was not available in what was provided, so it is not possible to say whether those upper-grade scores have been improving, holding steady, or declining. No chronic absenteeism or discipline data was included in what was provided.
The comparison framework available covers districts within Miami-Dade County, but the county has too few districts in the comparison set to produce a meaningful index position, so no countywide placement is reported here.
Data on English learner and IEP populations was not reported, which is a real gap given that many Miami schools serve substantial numbers of multilingual learners. A parent whose child receives or may need those services should ask the school directly about the scope of those programs.
Programs data was not included in what was provided.
The housing context around the school's zip code reflects Miami's broader affordability challenge. Home values sit substantially above both the Florida statewide median and the national median, and rents run high relative to typical incomes. Both values and rents have dipped modestly year over year, but the gap between local prices and state or national benchmarks remains wide. Families weighing this neighborhood as a place to settle are entering one of Florida's most expensive residential markets.
At the district level, Miami-Dade voters approved a property-tax levy to fund teacher pay and school safety, and that rate remains in place through the mid-2020s unless renewed by voters. More immediately relevant to families choosing a school: the district is navigating a sustained enrollment decline and is publicly considering closing or consolidating a number of schools across all three of its regions, with reconfigured grade structures such as K-8 or K-12 campuses possible. Families moving into the area should treat current school assignments as potentially subject to change and confirm Emerson's status directly with the district before finalizing housing decisions.
Miami itself is a large, dense urban city where neighborhood texture varies sharply by block. The area around Emerson, on the southwest side near the Coral Way neighborhood, is relatively walkable and residential, with tree-lined streets and a mix of older homes and newer construction. Government, health care, and education are the dominant employment sectors, and the city is a commercial and cultural hub connecting the U.S. with Latin America and the Caribbean. Miami's Metrorail and Metromover systems offer transit options, though the school's specific location will determine how accessible those are for a given family.
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