Renaissance Charter School at Goldenrod, Orlando FL

Original Research by School Decision on Renaissance Charter School at Goldenrod

Renaissance Charter School at Goldenrod sits on South Goldenrod Road in the eastern part of Orlando, a stretch of the city that leans suburban in character relative to the walkable downtown core. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, so students who enroll in kindergarten can stay through middle school without a transition to a different campus. As a charter school, it operates under Orange County Public Schools but with its own governance and enrollment process.

The student body is large for a K-8 charter. Hispanic students make up the overwhelming majority of the enrollment, with Black and white students each representing smaller shares and Asian and multiracial students present in modest numbers. A very high proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this firmly in the category of a high-poverty-rate school. Data on English learner rates and students with individualized education programs was not available in the records provided, so parents of children with those needs may want to ask the school directly about its support structures.

On the Florida state assessments, the picture is mixed and worth looking at carefully. In math, third and fifth graders tested at roughly half proficient, sixth graders came in a bit higher, and fourth, seventh, and eighth graders were in the low-to-mid forties range. In reading and language arts, fourth grade was the lowest point by a meaningful margin, while third, fifth, sixth, and eighth grades clustered around half or just below. Seventh grade ELA fell in the mid-forties. Science results split notably by grade: fifth graders came in above the mid-range, while eighth graders were below four in ten proficient. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from this record whether these numbers represent improvement, decline, or stability over recent years. Compared to the other districts in Orange County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of that group, which is worth a parent's attention and a follow-up conversation with the school about what supports are in place.

No program information was available in the data provided, so it is not possible to describe enrichment offerings, arts, athletics, or extracurricular pathways. Because this school ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate, AP program, or dual-enrollment pathway to describe. Those considerations become relevant when a family chooses a high school.

The East Orlando neighborhood around South Goldenrod is car-dependent, as is most of Orlando outside the downtown core and a handful of walkable inner neighborhoods. The wider Orlando economy is shaped by tourism, healthcare, education, and aerospace, with major employers including theme park operators, hospital systems, and a significant university presence anchored partly in the Creative Village district downtown. The area is in an active growth phase, with both commercial and residential development concentrated in the urban core and along outer corridors, while home values in the zip code around the school have come down modestly year over year and remain below the Florida state median. Rents in the area consume a meaningful share of a typical household's income, which aligns with the high economic need reflected in the school's enrollment.

For the Orange County school district's own strategic direction and any recent policy changes affecting charter schools specifically, the research returned no confirmed findings, so that context was left out rather than estimated.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 63% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 64% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 58% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 60% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 39% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 63% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 59% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 59% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 58% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 59% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 55% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 855%

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

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

Science

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 62% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 52% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolORANGE, 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-income50%Higher-income48%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income39%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income64%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income48%Higher-income63%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income44%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income56%Higher-income50%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income52%Higher-income61%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income57%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income49%Higher-income60%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income62%Higher-income67%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income49%Higher-income36%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income49%Higher-income35%14 pp gap