The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Math. The lowest is 54% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Tanglewood Elementary School
Tanglewood Elementary sits on Manchester Boulevard in the McGregor corridor of Fort Myers, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in Lee County Schools. Its enrollment places it among the larger elementary schools for its grade band. The student body is racially mixed: white students make up the largest share, with Hispanic students representing the second-largest group, Black students a smaller share, and multiracial students rounding out most of the rest. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning economic diversity is real here but the school is not a predominantly low-income environment by that measure. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the materials we reviewed, so a parent with children in either category would want to ask the school directly.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and worth examining carefully. Math results stand out as a relative strength: fourth-grade math proficiency is quite strong, and third-grade math is solid. Fifth-grade math is somewhat lower but still above half. ELA tells a different story. Third-grade reading proficiency sits below the math equivalent for the same grade, fourth-grade ELA is stronger but still noticeably below fourth-grade math, and fifth-grade ELA falls to roughly half of students reaching proficiency. Fifth-grade science, measured by the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, lands in a similar range. The reading and science results suggest that parents who want to understand literacy trajectory and how the school supports students who are not yet proficient should ask specific questions. No multi-year trend data was available, so whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability is not something we can characterize.
Graduation rate does not apply to Tanglewood: the school ends at fifth grade.
Comparison data against other districts in Lee County was not usable because Lee County is a single-district county, making a peer comparison within the county impractical. State-level framing is what the FAST results reflect.
The district context matters for families choosing a school. Lee County shifted from an open School Choice assignment model to a Proximity Plan beginning in 2023-24, shrinking attendance zones and tying transportation to proximity zones. Whether a family at a given address is assigned to Tanglewood and whether they are eligible for busing depends on where they live relative to the school's current zone. That is a question to take directly to the district before making a housing decision. Separately, voters chose to make the superintendent an elected, partisan office starting with the 2024 election cycle, a governance shift that affects how district leadership is accountable to the public. A voter-approved half-cent sales tax has funded safety upgrades, new schools, and technology across the district, but it expires in 2028, and district leaders have publicly raised questions about what happens to capital and safety programs if it is not renewed.
The Fort Myers housing market around the school's zip code has seen home values fall noticeably over the past year, and rents have also declined. Home prices in this part of the city are well below the Florida state median, which reflects both the local market correction following post-pandemic appreciation and the economic mix of the surrounding neighborhoods. Renters face a cost-of-rent-to-income ratio that, by national measures, sits in the stretched range. The broader Fort Myers area is healthcare-heavy for employment, with Lee Health as the dominant anchor, and the city is still in a growth phase, with downtown residential construction ongoing and the wider metro among the faster-growing in the country even as migration rates have moderated from their 2022 peak.
For a family weighing Tanglewood, the school presents a genuine mixed picture: math results, particularly in the middle elementary grades, are a strength, while reading proficiency, especially at the upper elementary level, is an area a parent should explore further with the school before enrolling.
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