The top reported proficiency rate is 73% in Science. The lowest is 54% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Pine Ridge Elementary School
Pine Ridge Elementary sits on County Road 561 in Clermont, a rapidly expanding city that now stands as the largest in Lake County and functions as a residential suburb of Orlando, though it maintains a distinct historic downtown near Montrose Street. The area around the school is part of a broader growth surge that has nearly doubled Clermont's population over the past decade, according to publicly reported U.S. Census data, converting former citrus groves into subdivisions and drawing families who work in healthcare, retail, and the hospitality industries tied to Central Florida's tourism economy. Most daily life here requires a car; LakeXpress bus service exists but covers limited routes.
The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, which means graduation rates do not apply, and that absence should not factor into how a family reads Pine Ridge. The student body is a fairly large elementary for its grade band, drawing a mix that skews majority white with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a relatively modest economic need share. Data on students with IEPs or English learner status was not available in what we reviewed.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed but worth reading carefully by grade. Florida's FAST Math results show third graders performing at roughly half-proficient, while fourth and fifth grade scores climb meaningfully, with fifth grade math the strongest result at the school. The pattern in ELA is similar: third grade sits just below half-proficient, and scores improve through fifth grade, though they remain below the math results at each grade level. The fifth grade science assessment, the Statewide Science Assessment, shows a strong outcome, placing Pine Ridge well above half-proficient in that subject. A parent looking at these numbers as a whole sees a school where younger students are still building foundational skills and older students show notably stronger results. Families with incoming third graders may want to ask the school directly about early literacy and math support structures, and how students typically progress through those grades.
Trend data was not available for comparison year over year, so whether these scores represent improvement, stability, or a dip cannot be determined from what was provided. The school's comparison with other Lake County district schools was limited because only one district operates in the county, making a meaningful peer comparison unavailable from the data on hand.
The Lake County Schools district has several developments worth knowing. Voters approved a dedicated school safety millage, publicly reported as funding safety officers, nurses, and mental health professionals including psychologists, social workers, and counselors. That millage is now the subject of a proposed expansion on the November 2026 ballot, which would add an additional increment directed at teacher pay, recruitment, and retention; if approved, the change would take effect in mid-2027. A new K-8 school, Minneola Horizon Academy, opened in fall 2025 in the adjacent Hills of Minneola area and prompted attendance boundary adjustments that affected several nearby elementary schools. Families new to the area should confirm with the district whether Pine Ridge's current boundaries remain stable. Florida's statewide cell phone ban, in effect since the 2024-2025 school year, also shapes the daily environment across all district schools.
Housing near Pine Ridge sits well above both state and national median home values, with prices trending slightly downward year over year at the time of this writing. Rents are essentially flat over the same period. The mortgage-to-income ratio and rent-to-income figures suggest this is a moderately stretched market for buyers at the national income median. Clermont's ongoing growth, including new mixed-use development near downtown and the large Wellness Way corridor to the south, means the housing supply and school capacity picture continues to shift.
Program-level information for Pine Ridge was not included in the data we reviewed, so specifics about enrichment offerings, specialized support programs, or extracurricular activities are gaps a family would want to fill by contacting the school directly.
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