The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in Math. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Miami Macarthur Educational Center
Miami MacArthur Educational Center sits at an address on SW 264th Street in Naranja, a predominantly residential, unincorporated community in far southern Miami-Dade County. The school is classified as an alternative school within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, serving grades one through twelve. That wide grade span is unusual and reflects the school's purpose: alternative schools in Miami-Dade typically serve students who need a different setting, whether because of academic, behavioral, or other circumstances that made a traditional campus a poor fit. Parents should approach this school with that context in mind. It is not a conventional neighborhood school, and standard comparisons around test performance or graduation rates are of limited value without understanding the population it was designed to serve.
Enrollment is very small. The distribution across grade levels is uneven, with the concentration of students in the upper middle and high school grades suggesting this school primarily functions as an alternative pathway for students around ages twelve through seventeen, even though it is technically open to younger ages. A large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a high-need economic population. The student body is roughly split between Hispanic and Black students, with almost no representation from other groups, which reflects the surrounding Naranja community and the broader South Dade demographic pattern.
State assessment data from the most recent FAST testing cycle is available for a subset of grades. At the grades where results were reported rather than suppressed, proficiency in both math and ELA was low, and eighth-grade science proficiency was particularly low. The suppressed results for third and sixth grade are likely a consequence of the very small numbers of students in those cohorts, which triggers statistical disclosure protections rather than indicating a deliberate withholding. A parent considering this school for a student who is behind grade level should ask the school directly about what academic intervention and support structures are in place, because the available data does not tell us how the school addresses remediation or what outcomes look like over time. Trend data was not available.
A graduation rate was not reported in the data provided. For an alternative school serving high-need students, that metric can be meaningful but is also difficult to interpret without knowing the graduation definition used and whether students who re-enroll after leaving a traditional school are counted against prior cohorts. This is a gap worth raising directly with the school.
No program information was provided. Course access, staffing details, attendance data, and civil-rights reporting were all absent from the available records. These are real gaps for a parent trying to understand what a typical day looks like or what academic pathways are open to a high school student here.
The surrounding community gives some context. Naranja is a car-dependent, working-class area built along the South Dixie Highway corridor, historically agricultural and reshaped repeatedly by economic migration and hurricane damage. It is now in an active development phase, with the Naranja Lakes Community Redevelopment Agency steering new housing projects and the area described publicly as among the county's faster-growing zones. Housing values near the school are above both state and national medians, and rents are relatively high relative to income, making cost of living a real consideration for families. The South Dade TransitWay provides a bus rapid transit connection north toward Dadeland and south toward Florida City, which matters for families without a car.
At the district level, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is managing a substantial, ongoing enrollment decline that prompted a spring 2026 proposal to close or consolidate as many as nine schools. Families new to the area should be aware that attendance boundaries and school configurations are actively in flux. A property-tax referendum passed in 2022 continues to fund teacher compensation and school safety staffing through 2027, when voters would need to renew it. State-level movement toward a full school-day phone ban is also working its way toward a district-level policy requirement.
Miami MacArthur Educational Center is a specialized setting. The evidence available describes a very small school with low academic proficiency on available measures, serving an economically disadvantaged population in an alternative school framework. A parent considering this placement for their child would benefit from a direct conversation with school administrators about what specific supports, structures, and pathways the school provides that differ from a traditional campus.
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