The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in Math. The lowest is 49% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Mae M. Walters Elementary School
Mae M. Walters Elementary sits on West 33rd Street in Hialeah, a densely populated city in Miami-Dade County that is, by most measures, one of the most distinctly Cuban-American urban places in the United States. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and its student body reflects the neighborhood almost completely: nearly every enrolled student identifies as Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which tells you this is a community-facing school drawing from working and lower-income households in a city where industrial corridors, compact housing blocks, and busy commercial strips like Palm Springs Mile define the day-to-day geography. English learner and special education figures were not available in the data we had, so a parent curious about those services should ask the school directly.
The academic picture from Florida's FAST assessments is mixed. In math, Walters shows genuine strength: proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades are all solidly above half, with fifth grade landing highest. That progression, with each grade performing at a somewhat higher rate than the one before, suggests students are building math knowledge as they move through the school. Science scores for fifth grade land roughly at the midpoint, neither a standout nor a worry. Reading is a different story. ELA proficiency in third grade comes in below the math figures, and fourth and fifth grades both land well below half of students testing proficient. For a school where a large share of children are likely navigating literacy in a second language, that gap is real and worth a direct conversation with the school about what reading supports are in place, how English learner instruction is structured, and what families can do at home to reinforce it.
Trend data was not available, so there is no way from this dataset to tell whether those ELA numbers are improving, holding steady, or declining. The comparison framework for proficiency positioning among Miami-Dade County's districts returned too few comparable entities to produce a reliable relative ranking, so we left that out rather than suggest a positioning the data does not support.
Hialeah itself is undergoing a real physical transformation. Publicly reported development activity shows a wave of transit-oriented construction near the city's Metrorail and Tri-Rail stations, with multiple large residential projects either recently completed or expected within a few years. That adds housing supply to a market where home values currently sit modestly above the Florida state benchmark and rents have edged slightly downward year over year. The rent-to-income burden is still substantial relative to national norms, which matches the economic reality of a city where many households are working-class and housing costs in South Florida remain elevated. Buyers financing at today's mortgage rates will feel that stretch as well.
At the district level, two things stand out for families considering a move into Walters' attendance zone. First, Miami-Dade voters approved a multi-year property tax increase to fund teacher pay and school safety, which carries ongoing cost for homeowners and is set to expire in the late 2020s unless renewed. Second, the district is experiencing sustained enrollment decline and has publicly proposed closing or consolidating multiple schools across all three of its regions. Families should be aware that attendance boundaries and grade configurations can shift, and it is worth confirming directly with the district whether Walters' current zone and structure are expected to remain stable.
For a family whose children are growing up in a predominantly Spanish-speaking household in Hialeah, this school sits inside a community whose culture, transit access, and everyday life are oriented around them. The math trajectory is encouraging. The reading results are something to watch and ask about before enrolling.
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