The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 38% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Miami Lakes Middle School
Miami Lakes Middle School sits along the northern edge of Hialeah, a densely urban, predominantly Cuban-American city in northwestern Miami-Dade County. The school serves sixth through eighth graders as a regular public school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and its enrollment puts it in a solid mid-sized range for a three-grade middle school.
The student body is largely Hispanic, with Black students making up a meaningful secondary share and very small numbers of Asian and white students. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this squarely in a school that serves a substantial economically diverse population. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the academic picture is mixed but generally solid in reading and math, and notably weaker in science. Sixth graders show the strongest math proficiency among the three grade levels, with seventh and eighth graders at a somewhat lower but still meaningful rate. ELA proficiency tracks closely across grades, ranging from the low-to-mid seventies in sixth and seventh grade to the upper sixties in eighth. These are respectable results in context, and a parent looking for a neighborhood middle school where a majority of students are testing at grade level in the core academic subjects will find that here. The science scores are a different story: eighth-grade science proficiency on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment came in well below the school's ELA and math rates, with fewer than half of tested students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to ask the school directly about science instruction, curriculum supports, and how it is approaching that gap. Trend data across years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving or holding steady.
No program offerings data was provided for this school, so enrichment tracks, elective pathways, or specialized academies, if any exist, cannot be described here.
The surrounding neighborhood in Hialeah is urban and compact: a mix of residential blocks, commercial corridors, and industrial zones. Public transit is genuinely useful here by Florida standards, with Metrorail and Tri-Rail connections that link the city to downtown Miami and broader South Florida. Hialeah is actively developing transit-oriented, mixed-use residential projects near its rail stations, and the city is working through a longer-range growth plan built around housing density and pedestrian infrastructure. That growth context matters for families weighing housing decisions: the ZIP code shows home values above the Florida statewide median and rents that represent a high share of a typical household's income, a condition that has persisted across South Florida. Values have dipped modestly year over year in this ZIP code, tracking a slight cooling from recent peaks.
At the district level, Miami-Dade voters approved a property-tax measure in 2022 to fund teacher pay and school safety, at a rate set to expire in 2027 unless renewed. That tax is an active cost for homeowners and a revenue stream for school staffing. The district is also managing sustained enrollment decline, and publicly reported information indicates that in spring 2026 the district was weighing closing or consolidating up to nine schools, with reconfigured grade structures possible. Families moving into the area should verify Miami Lakes Middle School's status and boundary stability directly with the district, as boundary changes remain a live possibility. A statewide cell phone policy was also moving through the Florida legislature as of publicly available reporting, which would reshape daily classroom norms if enacted.
No graduation rate applies here, as the school serves only middle grades. No chronic absenteeism rate was available. The neighbor comparison set in Miami-Dade County was too small to generate a meaningful proficiency index comparison at the school level, so no countywide positioning is possible from this data.
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