G-star School of the Arts, West Palm Beach FL

Original Research by School Decision on G-star School of the Arts

G-STAR School of the Arts is a public charter high school in West Palm Beach, serving students in grades nine through twelve. Its defining characteristic is its arts focus, and the school publicly reports offering the International Baccalaureate program, which is a genuine academic strength for a school of this type. The IB diploma pathway gives motivated students a structured, internationally recognized framework for rigorous coursework and assessment, something not available at every Palm Beach County high school.

The student body is meaningfully diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest share, followed by white students and then Black students, with smaller Asian and multiracial populations. Close to half of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a broad economic mix. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available in what was provided.

On Florida's state assessments, the picture is uneven and warrants honest attention. The school reports FAST Math and FAST ELA results at the middle grade levels, which is notable because G-STAR is classified as a grades nine through twelve school. The presence of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade assessment results may reflect students in a connected or feeder program; the data does not explain why middle-grade results appear for a high school, and a parent would want to ask the school directly about its grade configuration. Among the districts in Palm Beach County used for comparison, the school's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile. Proficiency rates in math at the lowest grade level tested are particularly modest, while the seventh-grade math figure is considerably stronger, and science at the eighth-grade level lands at roughly the midpoint. ELA results fall in a similar range. A four-year graduation rate was not available in the data provided.

No chronic absenteeism figures were available. Discipline data, staffing ratios, and attendance data were also absent from what was provided.

West Palm Beach itself is a city in active transformation. The downtown core, anchored by Clematis Street and CityPlace, has become genuinely walkable by South Florida standards, with the Brightline intercity rail station, Tri-Rail access, and a free downtown circulator making the area more transit-connected than most of the region. Publicly reported development activity along the Flagler Drive waterfront corridor includes a wave of luxury residential towers under construction or planned, and a former warehouse district north of downtown is being converted into mixed retail and creative office space. That growth brings rising housing costs. The zip code surrounding the school shows home values above the Florida statewide median and rents running at a level that, by standard affordability measures, would require a substantial share of a typical household's income. The year-over-year home value trend in the area has edged slightly downward even as the broader construction pipeline grows, so the market is worth watching closely for anyone considering buying.

The school's parent district is Palm Beach County, one of the larger countywide districts in Florida. A search for recent district-level strategic changes or policy shifts did not turn up confirmed information within the research window, so that piece was left out rather than guessed at.

For a family drawn to arts education within a structured academic framework, G-STAR's IB offering and its diverse student body are real draws. The academic proficiency data, read alongside the school's specific population and arts mission, suggests the school may appeal most to students for whom the arts integration and IB pathway are the primary draw, and families who want to understand the math and reading proficiency picture more fully would do well to ask the school directly about its academic support structures and how its students perform on high school level assessments, which were not present in the available data.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

92.0%Cohort of 212 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

867 schools plotted. 183 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 65% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 67 pts below county median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 42% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 65% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 62% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 757%

School 57% · District 60% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 56% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 51% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolPALM BEACH, 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 6Lower-income42%Higher-income48%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income48%Higher-income67%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income25%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income24%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income59%1 pp gap