The top reported proficiency rate is 84% in Math. The lowest is 69% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Whispering Pines Elementary School
Whispering Pines Elementary sits on the southwest edge of Miami, in a zip code where home values run well above the Florida state average and well above the national median. Rents in the immediate area are also elevated, and both values and rents have dipped slightly over the past year. The estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home here would consume a substantial share of a household's budget relative to national income benchmarks, and rent-to-income ratios in the area run high. Families considering the neighborhood for school access should factor those housing costs alongside the academic picture.
The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, which means graduation rate is not applicable here, and the grade band also limits the testing window. Florida administers its FAST assessments in grades three through five and a statewide science test in fifth grade, so the performance picture here is drawn from those upper elementary grades only.
Within that window, math results are a clear strength. Third graders post proficiency rates that are genuinely strong by any reasonable statewide comparison, and fourth and fifth graders are not far behind. ELA results are solid across all three tested grades, with fifth grade coming in at the same level as fourth-grade math. Science, assessed only at fifth grade, comes in somewhat lower than the math and ELA results, though it still reflects the majority of tested students meeting the standard. A parent wanting to understand what drives the science gap, and whether it is closing, may want to ask the school directly, since trend data was not available in the records we reviewed.
The student body is majority Hispanic, with smaller shares of white and Black students and a modest multiracial population. Close to half of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning economic diversity within the school is real. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not reported, so it is not possible to characterize those populations or the support structures around them from these records alone.
Whispering Pines is a regular public school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a very large urban district that is navigating two intersecting pressures right now. Enrollment across the district has declined sharply over the past couple of years, and the district publicly proposed closing or consolidating up to nine schools in spring of this year, with reconfigured grade structures under discussion. Families moving into the attendance zone should ask directly whether Whispering Pines is among the schools under review, and whether attendance boundaries may shift. The district is large enough that a school in the southwest part of Miami may or may not be affected, but the possibility of reassignment is real and worth confirming before a family commits to a home address for school access.
On the funding side, Miami-Dade voters approved a property tax referendum that raised the school tax rate, with revenue directed toward teacher pay and school safety staffing. That levy is set to expire in the next couple of years unless voters renew it, which introduces some uncertainty about the district's compensation picture going forward.
Miami itself provides a dense urban backdrop. The city is a major commercial and cultural center with strong connections to Latin America and the Caribbean, a layered transit network including Metrorail and the free Metromover downtown, an extensive public library system, and major employers spanning health care, education, government, and tourism. The southwest Miami location near this school is residential in character, somewhat removed from the downtown core and its walkable street life, though the broader metro's amenities are accessible.
Program offerings for Whispering Pines were not available in the data we reviewed, so it is not possible to describe extracurricular, arts, or enrichment programming beyond what the standard elementary structure would imply. A conversation with the school directly would fill that gap.
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