The top reported proficiency rate is 18% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on New Beginnings High School
New Beginnings High School is a charter alternative school in Winter Haven, serving grades six through twelve. The school sits in a city that is part of the broader Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area in Polk County, with an economy anchored in retail, healthcare, logistics, and hospitality. Publicly reported employers in the area include Publix Super Markets, a regional hospital system, a Legoland Florida resort, and a large food-grade trucking company, along with agriculture and distribution operations spread across the county.
Understanding what this school is matters before reading any of the data. Alternative schools in Florida, like this one, typically serve students who face barriers in a traditional school setting, whether those are credit recovery needs, disciplinary histories, attendance challenges, or other circumstances that make a conventional placement a poor fit. The student body here is substantial for its type, drawn heavily from high school grades, with middle school enrollment representing a small share of the total. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic circumstances of the families the school serves. The student population is predominantly Hispanic and Black.
State assessment results from Florida's FAST exams are available only for the eighth grade, and only partially. Results for sixth and seventh grades were suppressed, likely because group sizes were too small to report. For the eighth-graders who were tested, math proficiency was low and ELA proficiency was very low. Science results at the eighth-grade level showed no students reaching proficiency. These are genuinely weak numbers, and a parent considering this school for academic preparation should ask the school directly about instructional supports, what credit-recovery pathways look like, and how the school tracks student progress toward graduation. Because this is an alternative setting, the student population entering the school likely arrives with academic gaps already in place, which a raw proficiency figure alone does not explain, but the figures still warrant a direct conversation.
A graduation rate was not available in the data provided, which is a meaningful gap for a school that serves high school grades. This is one of the most consequential questions for any family considering enrollment here, and a parent should ask the school for its graduation or completion rate before making a decision.
Civil-rights outcome data, chronic absenteeism, and discipline figures were not provided. Enrollment counts for special education students and English learners were not reported either, so it is not possible to describe how the school serves those populations from the available data. Program offerings were not listed in the data, so no specific academic programs, vocational pathways, or support services can be named here.
The housing market around the school sits well below the Florida state median for home values, with prices that have slipped modestly year over year. Rents have edged up slightly. The area is more affordable than much of the state, and the estimated monthly mortgage carries a rent-to-own spread that makes ownership relatively accessible compared to many Florida markets, though current mortgage rates remain elevated nationally.
The Polk County comparison set for this school produced no usable position comparisons because of small cohort size and missing data, so no peer ranking or relative placement is possible here.
This school will not fit every family's needs. Its purpose is to serve students who need an alternative to the traditional pathway, and the scale of its high school enrollment relative to its middle school enrollment suggests that is exactly who it is reaching. For a student in that position, and whose family wants to understand whether this school delivers on that purpose, the graduation rate and the specific support structures in place are the questions to bring directly to the school.
See more original research from School Decision →