The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 30% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Melrose Elementary School
Melrose Elementary sits on NW 35th Street in Miami, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a traditional public school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with a substantial share of families qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic character of the surrounding neighborhood. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in the materials provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed by subject and grade. Math results are the stronger story: fourth and fifth graders posted proficiency rates well above half, and third grade was close behind, placing math performance in a range that a family would reasonably find encouraging relative to what many urban elementary schools show. Reading is a different picture. Third and fourth grade ELA proficiency came in below a third of students tested, and fifth grade was meaningfully higher but still below half. These are low results, and a parent considering Melrose should ask the school directly about its reading intervention programs, how it tracks individual student progress in literacy, and what resources are available for children who are behind grade level. Fifth grade science proficiency landed just under half of students tested, which sits roughly in the middle range.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over recent years.
The school enrolls a few hundred students across its grade bands, with a notably large pre-K cohort relative to the upper elementary grades. That pre-K presence means Melrose functions in part as an early childhood entry point for the community, though state assessment testing does not cover pre-K or the primary grades, so the FAST results above reflect only grades three through five.
The comparison framework for this school against Miami-Dade County's districts returned too few comparable entities to produce a meaningful ranking, so no positioning against peers is available here.
The neighborhood around NW 35th Street sits within Miami's dense urban fabric. The city as a whole is very walkable by national standards, publicly reported as earning a high walk score, and the Metrorail and free Metromover systems make car-free access to downtown, Brickell, and the broader region possible. The area is close to the civic core, where Miami-Dade County government, the main public library branch, HistoryMiami, and Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus are all reachable. Major employers in the region include Miami-Dade County Public Schools itself, Baptist Health South Florida, Jackson Health System, the University of Miami, and American Airlines, among others in education, health care, and tourism.
On housing, the zip code around the school shows home values moderately above both the Florida and national midpoints, with a slight year-over-year decline. Rents have edged up slightly over the same period. The price-to-income ratio sits well above the national norm, and the estimated monthly mortgage-to-income ratio makes ownership a stretch for families at the area median income. Renting remains slightly more affordable than owning on a monthly basis, though rent-to-income ratios are elevated. Families weighing this neighborhood should budget carefully.
At the district level, Miami-Dade voters approved a property tax increase a few years ago tied to teacher pay and school safety staffing, which currently adds to homeowner costs and is set to expire unless renewed. More pressingly for families choosing a school right now, the district is publicly reported as managing significant enrollment decline, with proposals as of spring 2026 to close or consolidate multiple schools across all three of its regions. Families moving to the area should confirm Melrose's current assignment zone and ask whether any consolidation proposals affect this school, since grade structures and boundaries could shift before or during a child's elementary years. A statewide cell phone policy is also moving through Florida's legislature, with a district-level policy required by the end of 2026, which will change daily classroom rules.
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