Francis S.tucker K-8 Center, Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Francis S.tucker K-8 Center

Francis S. Tucker K-8 Center is a regular public school in Miami serving prekindergarten through eighth grade, part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It sits on South Douglas Road in the Coral Way corridor, a neighborhood of tree-lined streets and Mediterranean Revival homes that the city considers one of its more walkable areas.

The school is small for a K-8 program in a major urban district, drawing students from a mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds, with Hispanic students making up the largest share, followed by Black students, and smaller populations of white and Asian students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a school community with considerable economic need. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

Florida's FAST assessments give a grade-by-grade picture of where students are performing. In math, results are uneven across the grades tested. Third, fifth, sixth, and eighth grades show roughly similar attainment, with about half of students reaching proficiency in those years. Seventh grade is somewhat lower, and fourth grade stands out as a pronounced gap, with only a small fraction of students scoring proficient in math. Parents of incoming fourth graders, or those whose children are already in that grade, may want to ask the school directly about what is driving that result and what support is in place. In ELA, the pattern is different: the middle school grades, particularly sixth and eighth, show stronger proficiency, with more than half of students reaching the bar. The elementary grades are weaker, with fourth and fifth grades posting the lowest ELA proficiency in the school. Fifth-grade science is below the halfway mark; eighth-grade science sits right at it.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate. AP and dual-credit pathways are not applicable here, and programs data was not provided.

The housing market immediately surrounding the school is among the most expensive in the state. Median home values in the zip code are many times the Florida statewide median, and asking rents are also well above the state norm. Mortgage cost relative to national income benchmarks is high, and rent as a share of income sits at a strained level. Families considering this attendance zone should weigh housing costs carefully; this is not an affordable entry point into Miami.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools is navigating a period of real structural change. Publicly reported information indicates the district is in the middle of sustained enrollment decline, and in spring of this year proposed closing or consolidating up to nine schools across the county. Families enrolling now should be aware that attendance boundaries and school configurations may shift before a child finishes their years at Tucker. The district is also operating under a voter-approved property tax that funds teacher pay and campus safety, set to expire in a few years unless renewed.

Miami itself is a large, dense city where the civic and economic infrastructure is genuinely urban in scale. Transit options include Metrorail and the free Metromover downtown, a greenway corridor called the Underline, and reasonably high walkability scores in the Coral Way area. The city's major employers span government, health care, education, aviation, and an emerging technology sector. Growth at the city level has been positive in recent years even as the broader county has seen population softening, publicly attributed partly to an immigration slowdown.

Tucker is a neighborhood school in an expensive part of Miami with a student body that reflects both the economic diversity and the demographic character of the surrounding community. The academic results are mixed and vary noticeably by grade and subject, which makes it worth a direct conversation with the school about instructional focus, any intervention programs, and what the transition into middle school looks like for students who come through the lower grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 69% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 44%

School 4% · District 68% · ▼ 64 pts below district

▼ 57 pts below state median · ▼ 63 pts below county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 62% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 64% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 54% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 852%

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

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 60% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 59% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 34 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 660%

School 60% · District 63% · ▼ 2 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 62% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 60% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 56% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 46% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 6 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-income57%Higher-income29%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income11%Higher-income39%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income32%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income58%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income43%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income43%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income50%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income42%8 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income30%8 pp gap