The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in English language arts. The lowest is 48% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mater Lakes Collegiate Academy Middle School
Mater Lakes Collegiate Academy Middle School is a charter school serving grades six through eight, located in Miami and part of the Miami-Dade district's charter ecosystem. It is a small school for its grade band, with enrollment concentrated in the sixth and seventh grades and a noticeably smaller eighth-grade cohort. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with nearly all students identifying as such, and a substantial share qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a community that is economically mixed but leaning toward lower-income households. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in what we received.
On state assessments, the picture varies by grade and subject. In reading, the school shows a clear upward arc across the three grades, with eighth graders performing solidly by Florida FAST standards. In math, seventh grade stands out as the strongest year, while sixth and eighth grades are more middling. Eighth-grade science proficiency sits below the majority mark, which is an area a parent would reasonably want to ask the school about directly. There are no multi-year trend lines available in the data, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers are improving, holding steady, or slipping. The comparison framework indicated the cohort of county-level districts was too small to generate a meaningful relative standing for proficiency, so no county positioning is available here.
Civil rights data, chronic absenteeism figures, attendance patterns, staffing ratios, and course access information were all absent from what was provided. Discipline data was similarly not available. For families weighing a school that describes itself as a collegiate academy, those details about course offerings and student climate would be worth requesting from the school directly.
The broader Miami-Dade district context matters here. Publicly reported information indicates the district has experienced sharp enrollment declines and is actively proposing school closures and consolidations across all three of its geographic regions, with the school board weighing decisions as recently as mid-2026. Families considering Mater Lakes should confirm the school's current status and any boundary or configuration changes that might affect the grade structure or school assignments nearby. A voter-approved property tax referendum, passed in late 2022, raised the school millage rate and is set to expire in 2027 unless renewed; it funds teacher pay and campus safety and represents an ongoing cost for Miami-Dade homeowners. State policy on student cell phone use is also in flux, with Florida moving toward a stricter daytime restriction districtwide by the end of 2026.
The housing market in the zip code around the school is notably expensive. Home values are well above both the Florida state median and the national median, and monthly rents consume a high share of a typical household's income. Rent growth has continued on a year-over-year basis. For families relocating to be near this school, the cost of housing is a real constraint that the local numbers make plain.
Miami itself brings the density and texture of a large urban city. The Metrorail and Metromover systems connect neighborhoods from Kendall through downtown, and the city's walkability is genuinely high in many districts, though unevenly distributed. Major employers span county government, health systems like Jackson Health and Baptist Health South Florida, the University of Miami, Florida International University, and American Airlines. The city posted recent population gains at the municipal level, though the surrounding county saw a meaningful decline attributed in part to an immigration slowdown, a shift that is already showing up in Miami-Dade school enrollment counts.
Program details for Mater Lakes were not available in the data, so what the "collegiate academy" designation means in practice, whether it involves dual enrollment, accelerated tracks, or specific curricular commitments, would need to come from the school itself.
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