Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center, North Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center

Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center sits on NW 12th Avenue in North Miami, part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which means a family can send a child here in the early years and keep them through middle school without a transition to another building. The enrollment is moderate in size for a school of this grade span.

The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and very small shares of other groups. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding neighborhood. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the school's results are mixed and generally below the midpoint of what one would want to see, though they are not uniform across grades or subjects. In math, third graders are proficient at a rate that falls below half, while fifth and sixth graders are somewhat stronger, landing just above the halfway mark. Seventh and eighth grade math results pull back toward the middle. In ELA, the picture shifts grade by grade in ways worth examining closely. Sixth graders perform notably better than any other grade in reading and writing, reaching well above the midpoint, while fourth graders are the lowest point in the building, with fewer than four in ten scoring proficient. Fifth grade ELA is in the mid-fifties, seventh in the upper fifties, and eighth grade drops back below half. Science results at fifth and eighth grade land right around the midpoint. The data does not include prior-year results, so whether these figures represent a trend upward, downward, or sideways is not something we can say. A parent wanting to understand the school's trajectory on these numbers would need to ask the school directly.

No information was available on program offerings, course access, staffing levels, attendance or chronic absenteeism rates, or school discipline. Those are real gaps for a parent trying to assess the full environment.

Benjamin Franklin is a regular public school in a district facing active enrollment decline. Miami-Dade County Public Schools proposed closing or consolidating up to nine schools in spring of this year, with grade-structure reconfigurations that could reshape school assignments. Families moving into the area should ask the district whether Benjamin Franklin's boundaries or configuration are among those under review, because the landscape is genuinely in flux.

At the district level, voters approved a property tax increase several years ago to fund teacher compensation and campus security, and that rate runs through 2027. Whether voters renew it will affect staffing budgets going forward.

The neighborhood itself is North Miami, a suburban city in northeast Miami-Dade with a strong Caribbean and Haitian cultural presence. The Biscayne Boulevard corridor is seeing substantial development, including a large master-planned community and several high-rise residential projects, though that activity is concentrated to the northeast and east of the school's address. Home values in the zip code are above the Florida statewide median, and rents run high relative to income, with publicly reported affordability calculations placing the area under meaningful cost pressure. The city is more affordable than nearby Miami Beach or downtown Miami, but it is not an inexpensive market.

The school itself offers a consolidated pre-K through eighth grade pathway, which has real practical value for families who want continuity. Whether the academic results here fit what a family needs depends heavily on where a child is starting and what supports they require, and the gaps in our data on programs and special populations mean a visit and direct conversation with school staff would give a much clearer picture than these numbers alone.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 340%

School 40% · District 69% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 68% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 62% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 64% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 54% · ▼ 5 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 60% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 60% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 59% · ▼ 25 pts below district

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

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 60% · ▼ 6 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 63% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 62% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 60% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 56% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 46% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above 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-income61%Higher-income25%35 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income27%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income51%Higher-income59%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income73%Higher-income55%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income57%Higher-income62%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income47%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income17%31 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income53%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income65%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income62%Higher-income27%35 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income51%Higher-income44%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income39%18 pp gap