Creekside Charter Academy, Riverview FL

Original Research by School Decision on Creekside Charter Academy

Creekside Charter Academy sits on US Highway 301 in Riverview, a fast-growing suburban community southeast of Tampa that has been adding residents and housing at a pace that outstrips much of Florida. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, meaning a family could enroll a child in the fall of kindergarten and see that child through middle school without changing campuses, an arrangement that suits families who value continuity over a traditional elementary-to-middle transition.

The school is a public charter, which means it operates outside direct Hillsborough County Public Schools assignment boundaries. Families choose it rather than being zoned into it. That distinction matters in this moment: the district recently completed a major boundary rezoning that shifted assignments across many of its schools, potentially displacing a substantial number of students. Families who enrolled at Creekside Charter specifically to avoid that kind of disruption should know their charter status does provide some insulation, though Hillsborough County's voter-approved property tax millage, which began in mid-2025 and runs through mid-2029, does reach charter schools under Florida law. Homeowners in Riverview will see that added levy on their tax bills regardless of which school their child attends.

The school's demographic makeup is diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest group, followed by Black students, with white and multiracial students comprising most of the remainder. Just over half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning a meaningful proportion of families are navigating economic constraints. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs were not available in the records we reviewed, so a parent whose child needs those services would want to ask the school directly about capacity and programming.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is uneven and worth examining grade by grade rather than in a single sweep. In math, fourth and sixth graders scored above the midpoint for proficiency, with seventh grade close behind. Third grade sat just above the midpoint. Fifth and eighth grade math results were clearly below the midpoint, with fifth grade notably so. In ELA, seventh and eighth graders had the strongest results, both comfortably above half. Third through sixth grade ELA results were more modest, clustering below or near fifty percent proficiency. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grade, were more encouraging: both grades came in above half, with eighth grade science among the school's stronger performances. No multi-year trend data were available, so it is not possible to say whether results are improving, holding, or declining. A parent who wants to understand trajectory should ask the school for that context.

The comparison data note that the county pool contains only one district, Hillsborough, and the methodology flags the proficiency index as not applicable given that constraint. There is no meaningful peer-district comparison available here.

Creekside Charter offers athletics including basketball, cheerleading, cross country, football, and soccer, which gives middle schoolers some extracurricular structure. Because the school stops at eighth grade, there is no AP, dual enrollment, or career pathway data to assess, and that is expected given the grade band rather than a gap in programming.

Riverview itself is largely car-dependent, built around subdivisions and highway corridors rather than a walkable town center. Housing prices have softened slightly from their peak, and they now sit modestly below the Florida statewide median, though ownership still carries a substantial price-to-income burden. Rents have also eased slightly year over year. The Alafia River, county parks, a well-equipped public library branch, and the mixed-use Winthrop Town Centre provide recreational and community anchors, but daily errands and school drop-off will almost certainly require a car. Growth continues in the area, driven by families relocating from other states, and road and infrastructure improvements are ongoing along the US-301 corridor where the school is located.

For a family weighing Creekside Charter Academy, the core questions are about math and ELA results in the elementary grades, which run below state midpoints in several years, and what the school is doing to address them. The upper middle school results in ELA and science are more competitive. The school's K-8 structure and charter enrollment model are the defining logistical features, and both are worth investigating further alongside any specific support needs a child may have.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 58% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 59% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 54% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 54% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 36% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 58% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 53% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 53% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 55% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 766%

School 66% · District 55% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 52% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 50% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 48% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

This schoolHILLSBOROUGH, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income42%Higher-income49%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income61%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income62%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income48%Higher-income58%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income66%Higher-income65%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income59%Higher-income65%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income52%Higher-income57%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income52%Higher-income77%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income41%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income59%Higher-income77%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income65%Higher-income55%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income50%18 pp gap