The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in Math. The lowest is 54% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Somerset Preparatory Academy (homestead)
Somerset Preparatory Academy in Homestead is a public charter elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, operated under the Miami-Dade County Public Schools umbrella. The school sits on SE Ninth Street in a city that reads as a fast-growing suburban gateway community at the southern edge of Miami-Dade County, close to the Everglades and the Florida Keys, with a historic downtown core and active residential construction in surrounding master-planned neighborhoods.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of Black students and a modest number of white and other students. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this squarely in the category of a high-need school population. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided, so a parent wanting to understand those support structures should ask the school directly.
On Florida's FAST assessments for the most recent school year, the school's results show a clear pattern: third-grade performance in both math and ELA is the strongest, with most students testing proficient, and results decline across the upper grades. By fifth grade, math proficiency falls to roughly half of students, and ELA and science sit in a similar range at fifth grade. That downward trajectory across grades is worth a parent's attention, and it would be reasonable to ask school leaders what they see driving that pattern and how they are responding to it in the upper elementary years. Trend data across prior years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results have been improving, holding steady, or slipping.
Program details were not included in the data provided, so a description of curriculum, enrichment, or extracurricular offerings would need to come from the school directly or its publicly available materials.
The school operates as a charter within Miami-Dade, which means it is publicly funded but governed independently of the traditional district assignment system. Families choose it rather than being assigned to it. The district itself is navigating a sharp enrollment decline that has prompted proposed school closures and consolidations, particularly in the South Region where Homestead sits. Families considering any school in this area, charter or traditional, should be aware that boundary adjustments and school reconfigurations are actively under discussion and that a school board vote was pending as of mid-2026.
The housing market in the zip code serving the school has seen home values ease downward year over year, now sitting above both the Florida state median and the national median. Rents have also softened slightly. The rent-to-income ratio is elevated, a condition publicly reported across much of South Florida, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical local home implies meaningful cost pressure for buyers. Homestead itself has attracted significant new residential construction from major builders, with townhomes and single-family homes spread across several master-planned communities. Most daily errands and commutes are car-dependent; the historic downtown is the most walkable part of the city, but it is the exception rather than the rule.
Miami-Dade voters approved a property tax increase in late 2022 to fund teacher pay raises and school safety staffing across the district, with that higher rate set to expire in 2027 unless renewed. Homeowners should factor this into their cost picture. The district is also watching a state-level push toward a stricter school cell phone policy that would apply districtwide by the end of 2026, which would affect daily classroom life at this school once implemented.
Somerset Preparatory Academy may appeal to families seeking a charter environment with smaller-community feel within the Miami-Dade system. The academic results, particularly at the upper elementary grades, suggest a school still working to close proficiency gaps, and families who care deeply about fifth-grade readiness going into middle school would benefit from a direct conversation with school staff about supports in place for students who are not yet on grade level.
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