The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Science. The lowest is 47% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lake Silver Elementary
Lake Silver Elementary sits on the north side of Orlando, near the College Park neighborhood, in a part of the city that mixes older bungalow-lined residential streets with small commercial strips. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within Orange County Public Schools. That district context matters here: when comparing proficiency performance, the comparison set available is relative to districts in Orange County, a county that includes only a small number of district-level entities, so the peer group is quite narrow rather than a broad statewide sampling.
On state FAST assessments, the school's results tell a mixed story. In reading and math, third and fourth grade proficiency rates sit below what most families would consider strong, and they fall below the overall proficiency index of the other districts in Orange County, placing the school at the lower end of that comparison. Fifth grade results are more encouraging: the fifth graders showed noticeably stronger performance in both ELA and math than the younger grades, and the fifth-grade science score on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment was quite solid. That pattern, lower attainment in the early elementary grades and a meaningful upturn by fifth grade, is worth discussing directly with the school. A parent would reasonably want to ask how the school supports foundational reading and math skills in grades three and four, and what specifically drives the fifth-grade improvement. Year-over-year trend data was not available in the source material, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers are improving, holding steady, or declining.
The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of Hispanic and white students and a very small representation of other groups. A substantial majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high-poverty population. Specific data on English learner rates and special education identification were not reported in the source material, so those dimensions of student support cannot be characterized here.
The school is not designated as a charter and no magnet designation appears in the data. Title I status was not reported. No program details were available, so it is not possible to speak to any specialized curriculum, enrichment offerings, arts programs, or after-school supports the school may provide. Discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism data were also absent. Parents who want a full picture of school climate and student support should request that information directly from the school or the district.
The broader Orange County district brief was searched but produced no confirmed parent-relevant changes, so district-level strategic priorities or recent policy shifts are left out rather than speculated upon.
The surrounding neighborhood context is worth knowing. The College Park area immediately to the west of the school's address has a walkable, older-neighborhood character with brick streets and small commercial districts that residents tend to value. Orlando as a whole is a car-dependent city, but this particular corner of it is among the more pedestrian-accessible parts of town. The housing market in the school's zip code carries home values well above the Florida statewide median, and rents are also elevated, making the area more expensive than much of the state. Home values in the zip code have edged down slightly over the past year, though they remain above the national median. Mortgage-to-income math in this market is demanding by national standards. For renters, housing costs consume a meaningful share of income, though renting still runs modestly cheaper per month than carrying a mortgage at current rates.
Orlando broadly is in an active development phase, with significant downtown mixed-use construction, a new university-anchored innovation district in Creative Village, and major regional projects underway. That growth has begun pushing housing prices upward across once-affordable pockets of the metro, and this neighborhood is already priced at a premium.
For a family weighing Lake Silver Elementary, the honest read is that academic proficiency in the tested grades is below the Orange County comparison group in the earlier grades, which is a meaningful data point and not a trivial one. The fifth-grade picture is brighter. The school serves a community with high economic need, in a neighborhood with real character and reasonable access to the city's civic and cultural life. Whether the school's support structures, staffing, and culture produce a good fit is something the current proficiency data alone cannot fully answer, and a visit and direct conversation with school leadership would give a much clearer picture than these figures can.
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