The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Science. The lowest is 66% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Midtown Academy
Midtown Academy is a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade public elementary school in St. Petersburg's South Side, part of Pinellas County Schools. It is a traditional district school, not a charter or magnet program, serving a student body that is racially mixed, with white students making up the plurality, Black students a substantial share, and smaller Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial populations. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a socioeconomically mixed community rather than one concentrated at either end of the income spectrum. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not available in the records reviewed.
On the Florida state assessments, Midtown Academy's third graders show strong results in both math and ELA, placing them among the clearer performers on those early-benchmark exams. Fourth and fifth grade math and ELA results are more moderate, sitting in the solidly average to somewhat-above-average range. The fifth-grade science results stand out as the strongest of any tested grade or subject at the school, which is worth noting for families who prioritize STEM readiness in the elementary years. No trend data over multiple years was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results reflect an upward trajectory, a plateau, or anything in between. Parents may want to ask the school directly about how reading and math interventions are structured in the upper elementary grades.
At the district level, Pinellas County Schools has made a visible curriculum shift worth knowing about. The district developed its own K-through-5 ELA curriculum aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards, grounded in science-of-reading methods, with explicit word-study components extending into grades three through five. Publicly reported accounts credit this shift with helping the district earn an "A" from the Florida Department of Education for the first time in its history. Families choosing Midtown Academy are choosing into this instructional approach district-wide, and can ask how the school implements it at each grade level. In late 2024, voters also approved doubling the local-option school property tax for a multi-year run, directing the funds toward teacher and support-staff compensation and toward reading, music, art, and technology programming. That is a direct cost on the property tax bill for homeowners in the district, and also a stabilizing resource for the programs families rely on in schools like Midtown.
The housing market immediately around the school reflects the broader St. Petersburg picture. Home values in the area sit modestly below the Florida state median and close to the national median, and have declined over the past year. Rents have also softened year-over-year. The neighborhood is south of downtown, in a part of the city that is more residential than the dense walkable core further north, though St. Petersburg broadly offers good transit access, including bus rapid transit connecting to downtown and the beaches. The city is in the middle of a significant growth period, with major mixed-use and affordable housing development underway, much of it anchoring around the downtown core and moving outward.
Midtown Academy draws from a city with considerable civic infrastructure: a waterfront park network, a recently renovated main library, and a downtown anchored by cultural institutions and major employers including Raymond James, Jabil, and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. These are not school amenities, but they shape the fabric of the community a family would be joining.
No information was available on programs, staffing ratios, discipline data, attendance rates, or special services at Midtown Academy specifically. Because the school stops at fifth grade, graduation rates and course-access metrics like AP or dual enrollment simply do not apply here. Families looking for depth on the school's intervention supports, enrichment programming, or how it handles the transition to middle school would want to visit and ask those questions directly.
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