Plato Academy Pinellas Park Charter School, Pinellas Park FL

Original Research by School Decision on Plato Academy Pinellas Park Charter School

Plato Academy Pinellas Park is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school sitting in Pinellas Park, a city in Pinellas County on Florida's Gulf Coast. It operates as a public charter, meaning enrollment is open but separate from the standard Pinellas County Schools assignment process. The school serves a mid-sized student body for its grade band, with a demographic mix that is majority white but includes meaningful shares of Hispanic, Asian, and Black students, along with multiracial families. Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in moderate-to-high economic diversity territory. Data on English learner and IEP populations were not available in what was provided.

On the state's FAST assessments, the academic picture is uneven and worth a close look. Math results vary considerably by grade. Third and fifth graders post solid proficiency rates, with fifth grade in particular performing well. But fourth grade drops to roughly the middle of the pack, sixth grade sits just above half, and eighth grade math proficiency falls to a notably low level. Seventh grade math data was suppressed, likely due to small group size. Parents of students heading into the upper-middle school years should ask the school directly about how it supports math progression, because the eighth grade result is a real gap.

ELA follows a similar pattern of inconsistency. Fifth and sixth grade reading proficiency rates sit above half and show relative strength within the school's own results. Third and fourth grade ELA, though, come in well below half, which matters given Florida's third-grade reading gate policy and the early literacy trajectory it represents. Seventh and eighth grade ELA land below half as well. Science at fifth and eighth grade is in the mid-to-upper half of reported results and is arguably the most consistent bright spot in the data.

Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say from the data whether these results are improving, holding steady, or declining. The comparison universe provided covers only the single Pinellas County district, which limits meaningful peer benchmarking for this school specifically.

The school operates under the broader Pinellas County umbrella for charter authorization purposes. Two publicly reported developments in the parent district are worth knowing. Pinellas County voters recently approved renewing and expanding a local-option school property tax, doubling the rate, with proceeds going toward teacher and staff bonuses and programs including reading, music, art, and technology. Whether and how much of this flows to charter schools is a question worth asking the school, since charter funding relationships with their authorizing districts vary. Also publicly reported, the district developed a custom science-of-reading aligned ELA curriculum that contributed to the district earning its first-ever top state grade in 2024. Again, how closely Plato Academy's own reading instruction aligns with that initiative is something a family would want to confirm directly.

On housing, the Pinellas Park area sits below the Florida statewide median home value, and values have declined modestly over the past year. Rents have also softened slightly year over year. For a family weighing a move to access this school, the local market is more accessible than many parts of the Tampa Bay metro, though mortgage costs relative to income still require household financial planning. Detailed information about Pinellas Park's community character, walkability, and major employers was not available in the research gathered for this profile.

A family drawn to the charter model, a K-8 setting that keeps kids in one building through middle school, and a racially and economically mixed peer environment will find Plato Academy worth visiting. The academic results in the upper grades, especially in math and ELA, are areas a parent would reasonably want to probe before enrolling a fourth grader or a student heading into middle school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 68% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 68% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 65% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 63% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 64% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 65% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 62% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 61% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 61% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 59% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 59% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 67% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 5 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-income33%Higher-income53%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income46%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income75%38 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income74%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income52%Higher-income45%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income64%39 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income57%Higher-income73%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income51%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income64%Higher-income78%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income51%Higher-income50%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income31%9 pp gap