The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in Math. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Harlem Heights Community Charter School
Harlem Heights Community Charter School sits on Hagie Drive in the southern Fort Myers zip code, serving children from kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a small school by any measure, and its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up a smaller share and white students a modest fraction. A very large share of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this squarely in a high-poverty school context. Data on English learner counts and students with IEPs was not available in what was reported to us.
The state assessment picture, drawn from Florida's FAST assessments and the Grade 5 science exam for the most recent reported year, is one a parent should look at carefully. Math proficiency rates run from the mid-forties in third grade down to the low twenties by fifth grade. ELA proficiency rates are in a similar range, with third grade coming in at roughly a quarter of students and fourth and fifth grades not much higher. The fifth-grade science result is the most difficult number in the set: only a small fraction of students tested at proficiency on the statewide science assessment. Across every tested grade and subject, these figures fall well below what Florida's state results tend to look like in aggregate. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible from this information to say whether scores are improving, holding, or declining. A parent would be right to ask the school directly about what specific academic intervention and progress-monitoring systems are in place, and what their data shows over time.
Because this is a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school, graduation rates do not apply and are not reported here.
A meaningful comparison of this school's proficiency against other schools in Lee County was not generated because the county's district comparison set had only one district in it, making peer ranking statistically unsuitable. So placement relative to neighbors in Lee County is not a position this data allows us to state.
The charter governance means families are choosing this school deliberately rather than being assigned to it. Lee County's district-wide shift to a proximity-based student assignment plan, which restructured elementary school boundaries and changed busing eligibility starting in the 2023-24 school year, affects traditional public school enrollment choices around it, but families attending a charter operate outside that zone assignment framework.
Fort Myers itself is a city in active growth, anchored by the downtown River District waterfront and surrounded by commercial corridors. Healthcare is the dominant employment sector, with Lee Health and several large physician and specialty practices publicly reported as among the region's largest employers. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro has been among the faster-growing areas nationally, though that pace has moderated. Housing near the school's zip code has seen a notable decline in estimated home values over the past year, dropping meaningfully below the Florida state benchmark, and rents have edged down as well. The mortgage-to-rent cost gap in the area is real but not extreme, and rent-to-income ratios in this zip code run at a level that suggests housing affordability pressure on many families.
On the broader Lee County district context: the half-cent sales tax approved by voters and running through late 2028 has funded new school construction, safety technology including weapons detection systems, and renovations across the district. What happens to that funding stream after its expiration is a live question district leaders have publicly raised. The superintendent position also shifted from an appointed role to an elected partisan one, with the first election held in 2024, a structural governance change that families new to the area should understand.
Harlem Heights Community Charter School is a small, community-rooted elementary school serving a predominantly low-income, largely Hispanic population in southwestern Fort Myers. The academic performance data as reported is low across tested subjects and grades, and that is a straightforward fact worth weighing. Families drawn to the school's community identity and charter mission would be well served by asking school leadership to walk through their specific academic support strategies and any outcome data they can share beyond the state snapshots shown here.
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