The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on The Collaboratory Preparatory Academy
The Collaboratory Preparatory Academy is a small charter elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade on East Chelsea Street in Tampa's 33610 zip code. With an enrollment that fits on a single school bus, this is an unusually intimate setting even by charter school standards. Every student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and a smaller share of students identifying as multiracial. No white or Asian students are enrolled. Data on students receiving special education services or English learner supports was not reported, so parents with children in those categories will want to ask the school directly about available resources.
State assessment results from Florida's FAST and Statewide Science Assessment are available for grades three through five, and they paint a mixed picture that parents should weigh carefully. Reading proficiency in third grade comes in well above the school's own results in other grades, which is an encouraging sign for the youngest tested students. Math and ELA scores in fourth and fifth grade, however, sit at low levels, with fifth-grade science proficiency also quite low. Because the enrollment is so small, results in any given grade can shift meaningfully from year to year based on a handful of students, and multi-year trend data was not available, so it is difficult to know whether these figures represent a pattern or a moment. A parent interested in trajectories would benefit from asking the school about longitudinal data and any academic intervention programs in place.
No program listings were provided for the school, so the specific curriculum model, instructional philosophy, or enrichment offerings that the name "Collaboratory" might suggest are not described in the data we have. The school's own communications would be the right place to learn what distinguishes its approach.
The school sits within the Hillsborough County School District, which recently went through a significant district-wide boundary rezoning affecting a large number of students and schools. As a charter school, the Collaboratory operates under its own enrollment structure rather than assigned boundaries, so families choose it deliberately rather than being placed there. Publicly reported information indicates that Hillsborough County voters approved a property tax referendum in late 2024 to fund teacher and staff pay increases, with the levy running through mid-2029. Under state law, charter schools receive a share of such funding, which may benefit staffing here.
The surrounding neighborhood is part of a Tampa that is growing and changing unevenly. Home values in this zip code are meaningfully below the Florida statewide median and have edged downward over the past year, making the area more accessible than much of Tampa's more prominent residential corridors. Rents have also dipped slightly. The broader city is in an active development phase centered on downtown and districts like Water Street and Gasworx, but those investments are concentrated well west of this address, and the immediate neighborhood carries a character distinct from Hyde Park, Davis Islands, or the Channel District. Tampa's civic infrastructure, including the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit network, the Riverwalk, and downtown cultural facilities, is accessible from the city broadly, though walkability in this part of Tampa is likely more modest than in the city's most pedestrian-friendly corridors.
For a family drawn to a very small school community, a charter setting, and a student body that reflects the demographics of Tampa's lower-income east side neighborhoods, this school may warrant a visit and a direct conversation with school leadership. The academic results as currently reported are a soft spot, and a parent would reasonably want to understand what the school is doing to strengthen math and literacy outcomes before making an enrollment decision.
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