The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in Math. The lowest is 53% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Pelican Island Elementary School
Pelican Island Elementary sits on Schumann Drive in Sebastian, Florida, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Indian River County district. The school draws its name from the city's own identity: Sebastian publicly brands itself "Home of Pelican Island," a reference to the first designated national wildlife refuge in the United States, and that waterfront, fishing-village character shapes the place where families here are putting down roots.
The school's enrollment is on the smaller side for a PK-5 campus, and a large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Pelican Island among schools serving a community with meaningful economic need. The student body is predominantly white, with Black and Hispanic students each making up roughly similar shares of the remaining enrollment, and smaller numbers of students identifying as multiracial or other backgrounds. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in what was provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and worth a careful look. In math, third and fourth graders are performing solidly, with fourth grade results particularly strong relative to what you might expect statewide. Third-grade math is above the midpoint, and science results for fifth graders land in a similar range. Reading and ELA show more variation: third and fourth grade ELA results are in the moderate range, but fifth-grade ELA proficiency is noticeably lower, sitting well below what third and fourth graders achieved in the same subject. That fifth-grade ELA gap is the sharpest soft spot in the data, and a parent enrolling a child heading toward those grades may want to ask the school directly about what reading support looks like as students move up. Trend data across years was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether these results are improving, stable, or declining.
The comparison framework was not able to position Pelican Island against other schools within Indian River County because only one district operates in the county, making a meaningful peer comparison unavailable through that method.
Sebastian itself is a city in transition. It is the most populous city in Indian River County, rooted in an "Old Florida" fishing-village identity along the Indian River Lagoon. The waterfront along Indian River Drive, Riverview Park with its kayak launches and community festivals, and a walkable stretch of locally owned shops along US 1 give the city a low-key, outdoors-oriented texture. But Sebastian is also in the middle of rapid residential expansion. The city council has approved large annexations for new single-family subdivisions, with builders like D.R. Horton and others active in Sebastian Highlands and surrounding areas. That growth has drawn some resident pushback over infrastructure, and families considering the area should understand that school populations and road conditions could shift materially over the next several years.
The housing market near the school reflects a broader Florida dynamic. Home values here are running roughly in line with the state median, though both local and statewide values have edged down modestly year over year. Rents, by contrast, have moved upward over the same period. At current mortgage rates, estimated monthly carrying costs on a typical local home are meaningfully above what renting would cost, a gap that will matter to families weighing buying against renting in a market where new inventory is coming online.
The Indian River County district's strategic priorities and any recent changes in policy or programs were not confirmed through available research, so that piece of context is left out here rather than guessed at.
For a family considering Pelican Island Elementary, the school offers a small-campus feel with solid math results in the lower grades, a community identity tied closely to Sebastian's outdoor and waterfront culture, and a growing neighborhood around it. The fifth-grade ELA results are a specific item worth raising directly with the school.
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