The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Math. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Poinciana Elementary School
Poinciana Elementary sits on Kennedy Drive in Key West, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a regular public school within the Monroe County district, drawing from the southernmost city in the continental United States, a small island community that hosts a very large volume of visitors each year. The character of Key West is shaped by that tension: a tight residential fabric with a strong tourism overlay, walkable and bikeable streets especially in the central areas, and a public transit network that includes city bus routes, a free Duval Loop, and an on-demand service that launched in late 2023.
The school's enrollment puts it on the larger end for a neighborhood elementary in a small island city. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which tells you this is a school serving a broad economic cross-section of Key West families rather than a more selective slice. Racially and ethnically, the student body is roughly divided among Black, Hispanic, and white students, with small numbers of Asian and multiracial children as well. IEP and English learner rates were not available in the data provided.
On Florida's state assessments, math proficiency shows a clear upward pattern across grade levels, with third graders performing below the statewide midpoint, fourth graders a bit higher, and fifth graders meaningfully stronger. That trajectory is worth noticing; it suggests students are making gains as they move through the school, and the fifth-grade math results in particular are the most encouraging in the dataset. ELA tells a different story. Third and fourth grade reading proficiency sit below the majority of Florida students, and fifth grade reading is similarly low, roughly on par with third grade. Science results at the fifth grade level are also below where most Florida schools land. These are real gaps, and a parent should ask the school directly about its literacy approach and what support structures exist for students who are not yet proficient. Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data alone whether these numbers are improving, holding, or declining.
The comparison fact-set for Monroe County has only one district, so no meaningful peer comparison is possible from that frame. The proficiency picture described above is a straight reading of where the school lands against Florida statewide results.
Housing in the zip code that includes Poinciana is among the most expensive in the state, running multiples above both the Florida and national medians. Rents are similarly far above state norms, and the rent-to-income ratio signals that housing costs absorb a large share of household income for most families. Home values have dipped modestly year over year while rents have edged up slightly. Families relocating for this school should go in with eyes open about the cost of entry into Key West's housing market.
Two district-level developments are directly relevant to families. Monroe County voters renewed both of the district's school funding referendums in November 2024, publicly reported as maintaining support for teacher salaries, a nurse at every school, a school resource officer at every school, and facility maintenance, with no new tax burden since the renewals continued an existing arrangement. District leadership had warned ahead of the vote that failure would have meant substantial job losses and effects on class sizes. Separately, the district adopted a property tax increase for the 2025-26 fiscal year, directed toward capital spending including new construction, ADA compliance, safety and security, renovations, and buses. Families buying into the Key West market should account for this in their projections.
Program detail for Poinciana specifically was not available in the data. No Title I designation was listed. The school's governance is straightforward public, non-charter, non-magnet.
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