The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Math. The lowest is 37% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Horace Mann Middle School
Horace Mann Middle School is a public grades-six-through-eight campus in El Portal, a small, predominantly residential village tucked between Little River and Miami Shores just north of downtown Miami. The school is part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the large urban district that serves the area.
The village itself has a particular character worth understanding for any family considering a move. El Portal is quiet and leafy, built around single-family homes across roughly half a square mile, with mature oaks, bungalows in Mediterranean, Craftsman, and Art Deco styles, and a state-designated bird sanctuary status that keeps the streets unusually calm and green. There is no commercial district within the village itself; restaurants and daily errands sit just outside, along the NE 2nd Avenue corridor anchored by The Citadel food hall in adjacent Little River, and along Biscayne Boulevard. Metrobus connects residents to downtown Miami. The village is also in the middle of real development tension: several large-scale projects, including one by Adam Neumann's firm Flow on a sizable tract, have prompted resident lawsuits and community pushback over density, flood risk, tree loss, and the bird sanctuary. This is a place whose residential character is publicly contested right now, and families relocating should follow those zoning and boundary debates closely.
Housing costs in the El Portal ZIP code sit above the state median and are roughly in line with the national median, running well ahead of what a typical income would absorb comfortably. Rents have edged slightly down year over year, as have home values, though the market remains relatively expensive by Florida standards. The estimated monthly mortgage on a median-priced home here would stretch most budgets.
On academic performance, the most recent Florida state assessments show Horace Mann's results fall below where most families would want to see them. In math, fewer than half of students in each tested grade reached proficiency. ELA results are more uneven, with sixth graders well below half, seventh graders somewhat higher, and eighth graders approaching the halfway mark. Eighth-grade science results are similarly in the lower range. These are real gaps, not marginal ones, and a parent would reasonably want to ask the school directly about its academic support structures, any intervention programs in place, and how the district's current enrollment pressures and possible consolidations might affect staffing and services here. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results have been improving.
A substantial share of Horace Mann's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which signals a school community with significant economic need. The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not reported, so those dimensions of the school's support picture are not visible from this data set.
Miami-Dade voters approved a property tax increase in late 2022 to fund teacher pay and school safety, a levy that runs through 2027 and adds a real annual cost for homeowners. The district as a whole is managing significant enrollment decline, and in spring 2026 publicly reported plans to close or consolidate up to nine schools. Families new to the area should ask specifically whether Horace Mann is among the campuses under review, and what boundary or grade-structure changes might affect assignment.
No information was available on specific programs, extracurriculars, staffing ratios, attendance rates, or course access at Horace Mann, so those dimensions of the school environment are missing from this picture. The comparison data set for Miami-Dade County contained too few comparable districts to produce a meaningful academic positioning for the school. The state testing results are what they are, and a parent thinking about this school would do well to visit, ask about classroom culture and teacher retention, and get a clear sense of what academic support looks like day to day.
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