Santa Clara Elementary School, Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Santa Clara Elementary School

Santa Clara Elementary is a traditional public school in Miami's northwest urban core, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, one of the country's largest urban districts. The school draws from a neighborhood where the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a smaller Black population and very few students from other backgrounds. More than half of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic character of the surrounding area. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in what was provided.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed and worth a close look. Florida's FAST exams and the statewide science assessment are the measures available here, covering tested grades three through five. Math proficiency sits in a moderate range across those grades, with third graders performing somewhat better than fourth and fifth graders. Reading and language arts results are lower across the board, with third grade in particular well below what would represent majority proficiency, and fourth and fifth grade only modestly higher. Fifth-grade science sits in a similar moderate range. These results, taken together, mean that in the most recent testing year the majority of students at each tested grade level were not scoring at the proficient threshold in either math or ELA. Parents with children approaching or in the tested grades may want to ask the school directly about how it is supporting students who are below grade level and what academic interventions are in place.

Because Santa Clara serves only through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and high school pathway data is not applicable here.

No information on programs, course offerings, staffing ratios, attendance, or discipline data was available in the provided material, so those dimensions of the school's environment are gaps this account cannot fill.

The surrounding neighborhood sits within Miami's dense northwest urban fabric. The zip code's housing market is notably expensive relative to state and national benchmarks, with home values well above Florida's statewide midpoint and rents that represent a substantial share of typical household income, making affordability a real constraint for families. Values have edged slightly downward year over year, though the market remains firmly costly. Miami itself is a highly walkable urban environment overall, with transit options including Metrorail and the free Metromover, a developing greenway network, and the kind of concentrated commercial and civic life that comes with a major city. Employers are anchored in government, health care, education, and tourism, with Miami functioning as a regional hub connecting the U.S. to Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the district level, Miami-Dade is managing a period of real turbulence. Publicly reported coverage indicates the district is contending with sustained enrollment decline, and in spring 2026 it proposed closing or consolidating up to nine schools across the county, with new grade configurations including K-8 and K-12 schools emerging from the process. Families enrolling now should be aware that attendance boundaries and school assignments could shift. A voter-approved property tax levy, passed in 2022, funds teacher pay and campus safety but is set to expire in 2027 unless renewed, which represents both a continuing cost for homeowners and an open question about future teacher compensation. The district is also watching state-level movement on classroom cell phone policy, with Florida potentially requiring a uniform districtwide approach by the end of 2026.

Trend data for Santa Clara's academic performance over multiple years was not available, so whether results have been improving, holding steady, or declining cannot be assessed from what was provided.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 69% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 68% · ▼ 34 pts below district

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

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 62% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 60% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 59% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 531%

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

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

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 56% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 12 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-income22%Higher-income21%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income33%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income43%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income39%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income32%14 pp gap