The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Science. The lowest is 33% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Phillis Wheatley Elementary
Phillis Wheatley Elementary sits on Marvin C. Zanders Avenue in Apopka, a rapidly expanding suburban city in northwest Orange County that is part of the greater Orlando area. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Orange County Public Schools, the county-wide district headquartered in Orlando.
The student body is modest in size for an elementary school. The large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this one of the more economically concentrated schools in the area. Racially, Black and Hispanic students together make up the overwhelming share of enrollment, with smaller numbers of white and multiracial students. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs were not available in the data provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments for the most recent school year, proficiency in reading and math across tested grades tells a story worth understanding plainly. Third graders tested at rates approaching half-proficient in both ELA and math, which is the strongest picture among the tested grades. Fourth grade shows a sharper drop, particularly in math, where proficiency falls to a notably low level. Fifth grade recovers somewhat in math while ELA remains in the low thirties. The one area where the school's results look more competitive is fifth-grade science, where just over half of students tested proficient on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile relative to the other districts in Orange County, the comparison set available. Parents who want to understand what the school is doing to build skills across grades, especially in fourth-grade reading and math, would do well to ask directly.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results have been improving, holding steady, or declining.
Because this school serves only prekindergarten through fifth grade, graduation rates do not apply here. AP, dual enrollment, and career pathways similarly belong to the secondary level and are not relevant to this school's grade band.
The housing market immediately around the school reflects Apopka's broader position. Home values in the zip code are running modestly below the Florida state benchmark and close to the national average, with a year-over-year dip. Rents have also softened slightly. The affordability picture is stretched relative to income at current mortgage rates, a condition affecting buyers across the country rather than unique to this neighborhood. For renters, the rent-to-income ratio is somewhat more manageable, though still meaningful.
Apopka itself is a city moving quickly. Publicly reported accounts describe it as one of the faster-growing submarkets in metro Orlando, with the Kelly Park Road corridor drawing major national homebuilders and large mixed-use projects under construction. That growth is concentrated in the northwest part of the city, connected by a relatively new highway interchange, while older neighborhoods closer to the historic downtown on Main Street and 5th Street reflect a quieter, more established character. The school's address places it in the older, more central part of Apopka. Daily life in this part of the city is car-dependent; pedestrian infrastructure has been identified publicly as limited, though the city has approved plans to expand walking paths.
Orange County Public Schools is a large county-wide district. A search for recent district-level strategic priorities or parent-relevant changes did not turn up confirmed specifics before the research budget was exhausted, so that context is left out rather than guessed at.
For a family considering Phillis Wheatley Elementary, the honest picture is a school that serves a high-need population in a neighborhood with affordable entry points relative to much of the Orlando area. Academic proficiency rates are below the county comparison midpoint, and the gap is wide enough that a parent should ask the school directly about instructional supports, intervention programs, and how student progress is tracked year to year.
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