Imagine Charter at Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton FL

Original Research by School Decision on Imagine Charter at Lakewood Ranch

Imagine Charter at Lakewood Ranch sits on Portal Crossing in the eastern Bradenton zip code that covers the Lakewood Ranch area, a rapidly growing master-planned corridor in Manatee County. It is a publicly funded charter school serving prekindergarten through eighth grade, authorized under the Manatee district. Families choosing it are opting out of the traditional district assignment system while staying within the public school universe.

The school's enrollment is mid-sized for its grade band. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places it in a noticeably mixed economic profile for a school in this zip code, where housing values run well above both state and national medians. The student body is majority white, with Hispanic students making up a meaningful portion of enrollment, and smaller shares of Black and multiracial students. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in the records we reviewed, so a parent interested in those services should ask the school directly.

On Florida's state assessments, the picture is uneven and warrants a candid look. In reading and math, proficiency rates across tested grades range widely. A few grades show roughly half or slightly more than half of students reaching proficiency in ELA or math, but fifth grade ELA and seventh grade math both come in considerably lower, with fewer than a third of students meeting the bar. Science proficiency at both tested grade levels sits below what the other subjects show, and the fifth grade science result is especially low. These are reported 2024-25 FAST and Florida Statewide Science Assessment results. Year-over-year trend data was not available in the records provided, so it is not possible from this data alone to say whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining. Parents who want to understand momentum should ask the school for prior-year results or look at the state's school grades history. Program details were not available in the data, so we cannot describe specific curriculum, instructional model, or enrichment offerings beyond what the Imagine charter network publicly reports.

Because this school stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric does not apply here. The path from eighth grade into high school is a live question for families in this part of Manatee County. The district is actively rezoning attendance zones at the elementary and middle level in response to rapid enrollment growth, and a new high school, Rangeland High School, is under construction nearby in Lakewood Ranch with an opening planned for August 2027 for ninth and tenth graders. That new campus will bring new high school attendance zones to eastern Manatee County, so families whose children are in the middle grades now should track which zone they will fall into when the time comes.

The Manatee district's voter-renewed property tax referendum, passed in late 2024, funds charter schools among its uses alongside teacher pay supplements, STEM, career and technical programs, and school safety. The district has also installed AI-based weapon-detection systems at high schools and, on a rotating basis, at middle schools, with referendum money covering security staffing at after-school events.

The housing market around this school is priced well above both the Florida median and the national median, with values down modestly year over year. Rents have also dipped slightly. Estimated mortgage costs relative to income place this area at a stretch for buyers at typical national income levels, so affordability is a real factor for families considering a move to this corridor.

Bradenton itself, the city of record on the school's address, is the Manatee County seat. It has a walkable downtown centered on the Manatee River with a publicly reported arts district, a riverwalk park, and a concentration of civic institutions. The broader Lakewood Ranch area where this school operates is newer, more suburban, and part of one of the faster-growing development corridors in the region, with new apartment construction and retail following population growth. Tropicana, Bealls, and First Watch are among the area's well-known headquartered employers, and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport has been publicly reported as a fast-growing regional airport.

For a family weighing this school, the core questions come down to what the charter's instructional model actually offers, whether the academic results in their child's specific grade fit their expectations, and how the school supports students with learning differences or language needs, given the gaps in that data.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 62% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 57% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 59% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 61% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 45% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 57% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 52% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 54% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 54% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 53% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 52% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 52% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 52% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 50% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

This schoolMANATEE, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income56%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income69%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income60%40 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income52%Higher-income67%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income53%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income57%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income37%Higher-income67%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income63%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income80%40 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income48%Higher-income61%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income56%10 pp gap