Sugarloaf School, Summerland Key FL

Original Research by School Decision on Sugarloaf School

Sugarloaf School sits on Crane Boulevard in Summerland Key, a low-density island community in the lower Florida Keys roughly halfway between Marathon and Key West. It is the only public school on the island, serving children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which means it is genuinely the center of schooling life for this stretch of the Keys. Families who enroll here are choosing a PK-8 campus; when students are ready for high school, they will need to travel off the island, as the nearest high school is some distance away along U.S. 1.

The school serves a moderately sized enrollment for a rural island setting, with grades spread fairly evenly across elementary and middle years. A meaningful share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, though the majority do not. The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up a substantial portion and smaller shares of Black students and those identifying as two or more races. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed, so parents with children who may need those services would want to ask the school directly about the depth and staffing of those programs.

On Florida's FAST assessments, results in the most recent school year show a mixed picture across grades and subjects. Third-grade math and ELA proficiency are the stronger results across the building, sitting well above half of students. In the middle grades, math and reading results tend to cluster in the roughly half-to-just-over-half-proficient range, with some grades falling just below that midpoint. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grades, are similarly in that range. None of these are alarming numbers, but they are not standout results either, and a parent tracking their child's grade-by-grade trajectory will want to have ongoing conversations with teachers, particularly in the upper elementary years where some of the softer readings appear. Multi-year trend data was not available for this school, so it is not possible to say from the data whether results are improving, holding steady, or declining.

No information on course access, AP or dual-enrollment programs, or extracurricular offerings was available in what we reviewed. Because this is a PK-8 campus, AP and dual-credit pathways do not apply here, and those questions become relevant when students transition to high school. The district, Monroe County Schools, passed two school funding referendums in late 2024, publicly reported as securing ongoing support for teacher salaries, a school nurse and school resource officer at every campus, and facility maintenance, with no new cost to taxpayers. The district did adopt a property tax increase for the 2025-26 fiscal year, directing additional local revenue toward capital projects including new construction, safety upgrades, and buses, which is a direct financial consideration for families purchasing homes in the area.

On that point: the housing market surrounding Sugarloaf School is among the most expensive in Florida and in the country. Publicly reported data puts typical home values well into seven figures in this ZIP code, running several times higher than the Florida state median and the national median. Rents are also at a level that represents a very high share of a typical household's income. This is a mature, built-out community that was largely developed in the mid-to-late 20th century, with limited new housing coming to market and a significant share of residential units sitting vacant or used seasonally. For a family moving here specifically for the school, the housing cost reality is the dominant practical constraint.

Summerland Key itself is car-dependent, quiet, and strongly shaped by water and boating culture. U.S. 1 is the main spine, and the community has virtually no pedestrian commercial life. The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail runs through the area for cycling and walking but requires crossing the highway. Civic services, including library branches, are found in other Keys communities rather than on the island itself. Mote Marine Laboratory operates a coral research campus here, which, alongside the school itself, stands as one of the more prominent institutional anchors in an otherwise residential and small-business economy.

For a family already committed to island living in this part of the Keys, Sugarloaf School provides a single, community-rooted option through eighth grade. The academic profile warrants conversation with the school about how students are supported toward and through those middle grade years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 64% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 58% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 53% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 65% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 759%

School 59% · District 60% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 58% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 54% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 47% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 61% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 55% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 53% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Science

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 51%

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 52% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolMONROE, 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-income60%Higher-income68%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income54%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income65%31 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income75%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income55%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income59%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income60%Higher-income71%11 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income52%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income62%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income76%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income58%2 pp gap