The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in Science. The lowest is 44% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Union Park Elementary
Union Park Elementary sits on the eastern edge of Orlando, in the zip code that straddles the line between the city's suburban stretch and its denser core. East Orlando generally reads as car-dependent and residential, a contrast to the walkable downtown districts that anchor the city's civic life. The neighborhood around the school is a working community, and the housing market nearby reflects that: home values in this zip code are roughly in line with statewide medians, though prices have slipped modestly year over year while rents have held nearly flat. Buying still costs noticeably more per month than renting, and the rent-to-income ratio sits in a range that many financial planners would flag as a stretch. Families weighing whether to rent or own near this school face a genuine tradeoff, and a parent considering a move here would do well to track the local market closely.
The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report, and the upper-grade course access and AP questions that often drive school research simply do not apply here. What the data does cover is state testing results in reading, math, and science for grades three through five, assessed through Florida's FAST and Statewide Science Assessment.
The picture in math is mixed but not grim. Third and fifth graders score at roughly the same level, with about three in five students reaching proficiency; fourth grade trails a bit. Across all three grades, math proficiency runs ahead of reading proficiency, which is the more pressing story. Third-grade reading results in particular are low, with well under half of students scoring proficient, a pattern that tends to warrant attention because Florida uses third-grade reading performance as a policy threshold. By fifth grade, reading proficiency improves meaningfully, suggesting some students do gain ground as they move through the school. Science stands out as a relative strength: the fifth-grade science result is the school's highest proficiency figure across all tested subjects and grades. A parent may want to ask the school directly what drives that outcome and whether any specific science programming or instructional focus is behind it.
Placed against the other districts in Orange County, Union Park Elementary's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom portion of the comparison set. This is a comparison of a single school against district-wide figures, so the framing is imperfect, but it confirms that the school's tested results sit below the county's district medians. A parent should read that as a signal to ask questions, not a verdict.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black and white students making up most of the remainder. A large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which puts Union Park in the company of schools serving communities with significant economic need. Data on English learner enrollment and students with individualized education plans was not reported in the available data, so the picture of student support services is incomplete; those would be worth asking about directly when visiting the school.
The broader district, Orange County Public Schools, is one of the larger systems in Florida. We looked for recent, confirmed parent-relevant changes at the district level but the research did not surface lasting shifts we could report with confidence, so we left that section out rather than guess.
Orlando as a whole is growing, with major investment concentrated downtown and in tourist corridors to the southwest. East Orlando's suburban character means the school's immediate surroundings feel removed from those development epicenters, though the region's economic momentum touches the whole county through employment. The area's major employers span tourism, healthcare, defense, and higher education, offering a reasonably diverse job market for working families.
Union Park is a neighborhood public elementary school serving a community where a substantial share of families face economic pressure. Its science results show genuine capability, its math results are serviceable, and its reading results in the earlier grades are an area worth watching carefully. A family choosing this school should go in with eyes open on the literacy picture and plan to stay engaged with the school about how reading is taught and supported across the grade levels.
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