The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 53% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Caloosa Elementary School
Caloosa Elementary sits on Del Prado Boulevard South in Cape Coral, a city whose residential DNA was engineered in the 1950s around hundreds of miles of canals rather than a traditional town center. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, drawing from a community that is overwhelmingly single-family and suburban, car-dependent, and still actively growing. Its enrollment puts it on the larger end for an elementary school of this grade band.
The student body is majority Hispanic, with a substantial white enrollment and smaller Black and multiracial populations. A clear majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a school that serves a mix of working- and middle-income families rather than a uniformly affluent one. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the records reviewed.
On Florida's FAST assessments, the most recent results show math proficiency running somewhat ahead of reading across all tested grades. Fourth-grade math stands out as the strongest result among the tested grades, while fifth-grade ELA comes in at roughly the midpoint, meaning about half of fifth graders tested at grade level in reading. The fifth-grade science assessment, Florida's Statewide Science Assessment, shows proficiency just above half. Taken together, the academic results are moderate: neither dramatically low nor placing Caloosa among the state's higher-performing elementaries. Parents whose children have historically struggled with reading may want to ask the school specifically what intervention and enrichment structures are in place for both ends of the skill range. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this record whether performance has been moving up, down, or holding steady.
No comparative proficiency index was produced because the comparison set for Lee County contained only one district, making peer benchmarking unavailable from this data source.
A few district-level changes matter directly for families choosing Caloosa. Lee County overhauled its student assignment system starting in the 2023-2024 school year, moving from a broad School Choice model to a proximity-based plan that assigns students to schools closer to home and limits bus service to students within defined proximity zones. Families living within roughly two miles of a school generally do not receive district transportation. Anyone relocating to Cape Coral should verify which school their specific address maps to under the current enrollment plan, and whether their child qualifies for busing. Separately, voters approved switching the district superintendent from an appointed to an elected, partisan position, with the first such election held in 2024, a governance shift that changes how district leadership accountability works. A voter-approved half-cent sales tax that has funded capital construction and school safety upgrades across the district is set to expire in 2028, and district leaders have publicly raised the question of what happens to technology, security, and facilities funding if it is not renewed.
The housing market around Caloosa reflects Cape Coral's broader shift. Home values in the zip code have declined year over year, and rents have followed the same direction, creating a buyer's market after several years of rapid appreciation. Prices remain meaningfully below the Florida statewide benchmark. The rent-to-income ratio is elevated relative to many markets, and the estimated monthly carrying cost of a typical home in the area runs noticeably higher than renting. For families weighing a purchase, the current market offers more negotiating room than was available in recent years, though affordability still depends heavily on individual income.
Cape Coral itself is essentially a car city. Daily errands require driving; the canal-and-cul-de-sac layout does not support much walking, though the city has added sidewalks near schools over the past several years. Parks and recreation options are distributed broadly across the city, including ecological preserves, sports complexes, and waterfront parks, so families who use those amenities will find them accessible but not necessarily walkable from home. The city continues to grow, with major residential development concentrated in northern Cape Coral and large mixed-use redevelopment projects planned closer to the downtown South Cape area, which is several miles south of Caloosa's address on Del Prado.
Program-specific information for Caloosa was not available in the data reviewed, so details on gifted programming, after-school offerings, or specialist instruction would need to come directly from the school.
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