The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 60% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Fellsmere Elementary School
Fellsmere Elementary sits on North Cypress Street in the heart of Fellsmere's historic downtown grid, a small agricultural town on the western edge of Indian River County. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, so graduation rates and high school program metrics do not apply here.
The community around the school is one of the most distinctively working-class in the county. Publicly reported sources describe Fellsmere as a town whose economy runs on citrus harvesting and vegetable farming, with a large share of residents who are seasonal or migrant farmworkers. The population is predominantly Hispanic, and that character is plainly visible in the school's enrollment, which is heavily Hispanic with smaller shares of white and Black students. Nearly every child enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that places this among the most economically concentrated elementary schools in the state. Data on English learner enrollment was not available in what we received, though given the community's demographics a parent would reasonably want to ask the school directly about its language support services.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the academic picture is notably strong given the school's economic context. Math proficiency across the tested grades runs from the upper sixties to the mid-seventies, climbing as students move from third to fifth grade. That upward trajectory within the building is a real signal worth noting. Reading and ELA results follow a similar pattern, starting in the low-to-mid fifties at third grade and rising into the upper sixties by fifth. Third-grade reading is the softer point in the data, and a parent may want to ask the school what early literacy interventions are in place. Fifth-grade science proficiency sits in the low seventies, which is a solid result. No multi-year trend data was available, so whether these numbers represent improvement, stability, or a decline from prior years cannot be determined from what we have.
Program information was not available in the data we received. The comparison fact-set covers Indian River County districts, but only one district serves the county, so no meaningful peer comparison is possible for this school.
The town itself shapes the daily experience of families here in practical ways. There is no local grocery store or pharmacy; residents drive to Sebastian or Vero Beach for everyday errands, and the county's zero-fare GoLine bus system does connect Fellsmere to those towns. The downtown is compact and walkable, with a farmers market, a handful of restaurants, and the historic Marian Fell Library a few blocks from the school. The school itself sits where Washington Park once stood in the original town plan, so it is genuinely embedded in the neighborhood rather than on a remote campus.
On housing, the local market sits below the Florida state median and is roughly in line with the national median for home values, making Fellsmere more accessible than coastal Indian River County. Values have been essentially flat over the past year. Rental data was not available. The town is in the middle of a significant growth phase, publicly reported to include large annexations of rural land and active residential developments that could bring substantial new housing. City officials have described downtown redevelopment ambitions as well. Families who value the current tight-knit, small-town character should be aware that the pace of change is expected to accelerate, and some long-term residents have expressed concern about what growth will mean for the community.
For a family moving to Fellsmere, this school reflects the community it serves: a close, predominantly Hispanic working-class population, strong math results that grow across grade levels, reading results that are meaningful but softer in the early grades, and a setting where nearly all children share a similar economic background.
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