The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Math. The lowest is 70% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Tatum Ridge Elementary School
Tatum Ridge Elementary sits on Tatum Road in the eastern part of Sarasota, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Sarasota County district. The school draws from a growing corridor of the county, an area publicly reported to be among the fastest-developing parts of the Sarasota metro, with new master-planned communities and housing construction expanding eastward. The enrollment is on the larger side for a Florida elementary school, spread fairly evenly across grades.
The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group and smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a relatively low share of economically disadvantaged students compared to many Florida elementaries. Data on English learner enrollment and students with individualized education programs were not available in what we reviewed.
On Florida's FAST assessments, Tatum Ridge posts results that sit meaningfully above what most Florida schools show. In third-grade math, the school's proficiency rate lands in a strong range, and while rates decline as students move through fourth and fifth grade, they remain well above typical statewide performance at each grade level. The pattern in reading follows a similar arc: third grade is the strongest point, with fourth and fifth grade results a bit lower but still solid. Fifth-grade science scores, measured on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, come in comfortably above the midpoint. The decline across grade levels is worth a parent watching, though it is not unusual for proficiency rates to soften in the upper elementary grades as content grows more demanding. A parent curious whether this pattern reflects anything specific to the school would be worth asking about directly.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether performance at Tatum Ridge has been climbing, holding steady, or shifting since the district moved to the FAST assessment.
Because Tatum Ridge does not serve middle or high school grades, graduation rates and AP or dual-enrollment pathways do not apply here. The comparison framework available covers districts in Sarasota County, and with only one district in the county comparison set, a meaningful peer ranking against neighboring districts was not produced.
The Sarasota district has been active in ways that affect elementary families directly. Voters renewed the district's property tax millage in late 2024, extending a funding stream through 2030 that publicly reported sources describe as supporting teacher recruitment and retention, arts programming, extended instruction time, and career and technical education. Separately, the district approved a structural reorganization in late 2025 that converts several elementary schools into K-8 campuses and adds new STEAM and Cambridge programming at those specific sites. Tatum Ridge is not among the schools named in that reorganization, but the changes reshape how the district as a whole distributes students and programs, so families thinking about the later elementary and middle school years should follow how attendance boundaries and feeder patterns evolve.
The housing market around the school's zip code reflects the broader Sarasota dynamic: home values run substantially above both the Florida and national medians, and the estimated monthly cost of ownership is high relative to typical household incomes. Rents have been declining year over year as new supply has come online, and the rent-to-income ratio remains stretched. This is a market where proximity to a well-regarded elementary school is one factor in housing demand, and buyers should weigh the premium accordingly.
Sarasota itself is a Gulf Coast city with a downtown arts and cultural core, major health care and education employers, and a bayfront public life that runs from parks to performing arts. The city's walkable character concentrates in the historic downtown neighborhoods, while the eastern areas where Tatum Ridge sits are more suburban in character. For families drawn to Sarasota's growth corridor, Tatum Ridge offers academic results that stand out within Florida, a relatively stable funding picture, and a peer environment shaped by a community that is economically mixed but skews toward lower economic need.
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