Chi Chi Rodriquez Academy, Clearwater FL

Original Research by School Decision on Chi Chi Rodriquez Academy

Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy sits on North McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, serving grades four through eight as a public alternative school within Pinellas County Schools. Understanding what that designation means is the starting point for any family considering it. Alternative schools typically enroll students who are not being well-served in a conventional setting, whether because of academic struggles, behavioral challenges, or other circumstances that make a standard classroom a poor fit. The school does not operate as a charter and carries no magnet designation.

Enrollment is quite small, with students spread across fifth through eighth grade. The fourth-grade slot appears to have no enrolled students at present. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a population with meaningful economic need. The student body is majority white, with Black and Hispanic students making up most of the remainder, and very small numbers of students from other groups. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the records reviewed.

State FAST assessment results are reported and they are low across every tested grade and subject. In reading and math, across all tested grades, only a fraction of students scored at proficiency, with some grades showing only about one in ten students meeting the mark and the highest rates still well below what you would see at a typical neighborhood middle school. Science results follow a similar pattern. These numbers need context: alternative schools draw students who have often already fallen significantly behind, and raw proficiency rates do not capture how much ground students may be gaining from where they started. A parent should ask the school directly about growth metrics and the specific academic and behavioral supports in place, because those are the more meaningful signals for a school of this type.

Comparison against other Pinellas County districts was not available in a meaningful way here, given that only one district operates in the county and this is a single school within it. Chronic absenteeism and graduation data were not available for this school. Because it serves only upper elementary and middle grades, a high school graduation rate does not apply.

The parent district, Pinellas County Schools, publicly reported earning its first-ever top state grade in 2024, tied to a custom science-of-reading curriculum it built and rolled out across elementary grades. Voters also recently approved a renewed and expanded local school property tax, providing sustained funding for teacher bonuses and programs like reading, music, art, and technology. Whether those district-wide initiatives reach students at an alternative school like Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy in the same way they reach students at conventional campuses is worth asking.

The school sits in a part of Clearwater that is largely suburban and car-dependent, though the city as a whole is in an active redevelopment phase. Downtown Clearwater has seen substantial investment, including a reopened waterfront park, new civic construction, and residential towers underway. Housing near the school's zip code has seen a modest year-over-year decline in values, and typical rents in the area consume a meaningful portion of income at current rates, which matters for families weighing whether to live nearby.

Program offerings for the school were not available in the data reviewed, so there is no information here about specific courses, electives, counseling services, or intervention programs. For a family whose child is being referred to or is considering Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy, those program details are central questions. What does the daily structure look like? What re-entry planning exists for students who stabilize and want to return to a traditional campus? How is progress measured and communicated? The school's own staff are the right source for those answers, and the data here is not a substitute for that conversation.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 65% · ▼ 55 pts below district

▼ 45 pts below state median · ▼ 54 pts below county median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 63% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 33% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 64% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 61% · ▼ 51 pts below district

▼ 44 pts below state median · ▼ 50 pts below county median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 61% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 59% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 59% · ▼ 47 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 48 pts below county median

Science

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 67% · ▼ 57 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 55 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 58% · ▼ 40 pts below district

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

This schoolPINELLAS, 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-income29%Higher-income31%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income18%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income40%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income31%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income23%Higher-income18%4 pp gap