Plato Academy of St.petersburg, St. Petersburg FL

Original Research by School Decision on Plato Academy of St.petersburg

Plato Academy of St. Petersburg is a kindergarten-through-grade-eight public charter school located on Park Street North in St. Petersburg, Florida, part of the Pinellas County school system. It draws from a city that is in the middle of a sustained growth phase, with major residential and mixed-use construction reshaping the downtown core and surrounding districts. Families considering the school are looking at a housing market where home values currently sit below both the statewide and national medians, though prices have dipped somewhat year over year. Rents, by contrast, have edged upward recently. That combination may make the area relatively accessible for buyers compared to other parts of Florida, though monthly housing costs still consume a meaningful share of income at current mortgage rates.

The school is small, serving roughly equal numbers of students across each grade from kindergarten through eighth. Its student body is majority white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group, followed by smaller Asian and multiracial populations, and Black students representing a modest share. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the economic mix somewhere in the middle range for a Florida charter school. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided, so families of children who need specialized services should ask the school directly about what supports are in place.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the academic picture is uneven and worth reading carefully. In ELA, proficiency rates are solid in third and fourth grade, dip in fifth, then recover and hold well through sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The pattern in math is more pronounced: third and fourth grade results are decent, fifth grade math proficiency drops sharply to roughly a third of students meeting the standard, then sixth and eighth grade results are strong. Seventh grade math data was suppressed, likely because the group was too small to report. On the statewide science assessment, fifth graders landed just below half proficient, while eighth graders came in above two-thirds. The fifth grade dip across reading, math, and science is consistent enough that a parent may want to ask the school what is happening in that transition year and what supports exist for students who struggle there. The middle school grades, by contrast, show generally solid results.

No comparison proficiency data against other Pinellas County districts was possible here because the county has only one traditional district, leaving no peer group to benchmark against within that comparison set.

Plato Academy does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate. Program and course access data was not provided, and information on discipline, chronic absenteeism, and staffing was not available in what was provided. Families interested in extracurriculars, enrichment, or elective depth should ask the school directly.

St. Petersburg itself gives families a dense, walkable city with a strong civic fabric. The downtown waterfront, a public library system anchored by a recently reopened main branch, bus rapid transit connecting to the beaches, and a university presence integrated into the city core all contribute to a place that functions as more than a suburb. Major employers across finance, manufacturing, health care, and marine science give the local economy breadth. The city is building extensively, including a large affordable and workforce housing push, though housing affordability remains a real consideration.

On the district side, Pinellas County Schools voters recently approved a renewed and expanded school property tax, which supports teacher and staff compensation as well as arts, music, reading, and technology programs. That levy represents a lasting cost for homeowners but also a stabilizer for the programs families count on. The district has also shifted its early reading curriculum toward a structured, science-of-reading approach, earning its first top state grade in that work. How those district-level investments flow into a charter school like Plato Academy, which operates with some independence from the district, is worth confirming with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 68% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 68% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 65% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 684%

School 84% · District 63% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 64% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 65% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 62% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 61% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 61% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 59% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 59% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 67% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 58% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above 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 3Lower-income69%Higher-income71%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income69%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income59%Higher-income48%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income63%Higher-income82%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income77%Higher-income78%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income75%Higher-income67%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income59%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income33%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income83%Higher-income86%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income62%Higher-income89%27 pp gap