The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mater Academy Virtual Charter School
Mater Academy Virtual Charter School is a fully online, tuition-free public charter school operating under the Miami-Dade school district. It serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and its address of record is in Miami, though the school's virtual model means students attend from wherever they live rather than commuting to a campus.
The enrollment is quite small for a school spanning that full grade range. Students are concentrated more heavily in the upper grades, with the largest cohorts in the junior and senior years, and thinner numbers in the elementary grades. The school is predominantly Hispanic, which reflects the broader Miami-Dade population, with smaller shares of White and Black students. A relatively small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is unusually low for a Miami-Dade school and may reflect the demographics of families who actively choose a virtual charter option. Data on students with IEPs or English learner status was not available.
On academic performance, the picture is limited. Florida's FAST assessment results for most grade levels are suppressed, likely because the enrollment in individual tested grades falls below the state's minimum reporting threshold for privacy reasons. The two grades where results were reported tell a partial story: sixth-grade ELA proficiency came in around three-fifths of students, which is a reasonable showing, while sixth-grade math proficiency was roughly three in ten students, which is on the lower end and worth asking the school about directly. Science results for grades five and eight were also suppressed. Because so many grade levels returned suppressed data, a full academic picture is not possible from state testing alone, and parents who want to understand academic outcomes here should ask the school for any additional internal data it can share.
The comparison data for Miami-Dade County districts did not produce a meaningful proficiency index for this school because too few grade-level results were reportable. Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data were also not available in the data provided.
No program details, course access information, or staffing data were included in the data, so it is not possible to describe AP offerings, dual enrollment, electives, or extracurricular options from the available evidence. A parent considering this school for a high schooler would want to ask specifically what coursework the school offers and how dual enrollment or college-prep pathways are structured in a fully virtual setting.
The broader district context matters here. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is navigating a meaningful enrollment decline, and publicly reported information describes proposals to close or consolidate up to nine schools across the district, with some grade structures being reconfigured into K-8, 6-12, or K-12 arrangements. Families choosing a virtual charter may be somewhat insulated from building-level reassignment decisions, but the district's fiscal and structural pressures are real. A voter-approved property tax at one mill is currently funding teacher pay and school safety across the district; that rate is set to expire in 2027 unless renewed, which is relevant to any homeowner in Miami-Dade.
Miami itself is a large, dense urban city with a walkable core, a layered transit system including the free Metromover downtown, and major employment in government, health care, education, and tourism. Housing costs in the zip codes around the school's address of record have moved downward over the past year, with both home values and rents showing modest declines, though affordability remains a genuine pressure relative to incomes. The rent-to-income ratio is well above what most financial planners would consider comfortable.
Mater Academy Virtual Charter School suits families who want or need a fully online public school option within the Miami-Dade charter framework and who are comfortable with a small-enrollment environment. The limited testing data available makes it hard to fully characterize academic outcomes, and a prospective family should press the school for more than what state reports currently show.
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