Miami-dade Online Academy- Virtual Instruction Program, Miami FL

Original Research by School Decision on Miami-dade Online Academy- Virtual Instruction Program

Miami-Dade Online Academy's Virtual Instruction Program is a full K-12 public school operating entirely online within the Miami-Dade district. It is not a charter school, and it carries no magnet designation. The school is small across its entire grade span, with students spread from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and the distribution across grades is thin at every level. For families weighing this option, the most fundamental fact is structural: this is a distance-learning environment, and the peer community, the daily rhythm, and the support systems are all shaped by that reality.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, reflecting the broader Miami-Dade community, with smaller shares of white, Black, and Asian students. One distinctive characteristic is that very few students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share well below what most Miami-Dade schools would show. Whether that reflects the population drawn to online learning, or gaps in how eligibility is captured for a virtual program, is worth asking the school directly. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in what was provided.

On state assessments, the picture is genuinely uneven and worth examining closely. Reading and language arts results are a clear strength. Proficiency rates in ELA run high across the middle grades tested, and by seventh and eighth grade they reach levels that are strong by any standard. Math tells a more complicated story. In the lower elementary grades and in fifth grade, math proficiency is modest. In sixth grade it rises sharply, and results in seventh and eighth grade are solid. Science results fall somewhere in between, with fifth-grade science on the lower end and eighth-grade science more encouraging. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these patterns are improving, stable, or shifting. A parent with a student in the elementary grades, particularly in math and science, may want to ask the school specifically how those grades are supported within a virtual model.

No graduation rate data was available through the data provided. For a school that serves grades through twelfth, that is a gap a prospective family should try to fill by asking the school directly. Information on AP courses, dual enrollment, or other advanced pathways was also not included in what was provided.

Because the school is virtual, the physical location in Miami matters less for day-to-day family life than it would for a traditional school. Families are living throughout Miami-Dade, a county where the housing market carries prices that sit well above both the Florida statewide median and national figures. Rents in the area also run high relative to income, and publicly reported data places the rent-to-income burden at an elevated level. The broader county is experiencing an enrollment decline in its public schools, driven in part by a slowdown in immigration, and the district has been weighing closures and consolidations of traditional schools. That context is less directly relevant to a fully virtual school, but it shapes the district's resource environment.

Miami-Dade voters approved a property-tax increase a few years ago to fund teacher pay and school safety; that levy is set to expire in a few years unless renewed, and how it affects staffing and compensation in an online program is another question worth raising with the school.

Miami itself is a dense, highly walkable urban environment with a layered transit system, a culturally rich mix of neighborhoods, and major employers concentrated in health care, education, government, and tourism. For families considering the Online Academy, the city's character matters as context for where students live and what they have access to outside of school hours, since their school day happens at home.

The Online Academy fits families who want full K-12 public schooling in a distance-learning format, whether for scheduling flexibility, health reasons, learning style, or other personal circumstances. The strong ELA results in the middle grades are encouraging, and the math and elementary-level science results are areas where a family should have a direct conversation with the school before enrolling.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 22 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 69% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 68% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 62% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 684%

School 84% · District 64% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 54% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 60% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 60% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 59% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 60% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 688%

School 88% · District 63% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 793%

School 93% · District 62% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 894%

School 94% · District 60% · ▲ 34 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Science

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 56% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 46% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolMIAMI-DADE, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.