Imagine School at Palmer Ranch, Sarasota FL

Original Research by School Decision on Imagine School at Palmer Ranch

Imagine School at Palmer Ranch is a charter school in Sarasota serving kindergarten through eighth grade, located in the Palmer Ranch area of the city's southern corridor. It sits within the broader Sarasota County school district's orbit while operating under independent charter governance, and families choosing it are opting into that model rather than the assigned district school.

The school draws a student body that is majority white, with Hispanic students forming a substantial second group, and smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. The free- and reduced-price lunch rate is very low relative to most Florida schools, which means economically the school's families skew well above average. IEP and English learner data were not available in the records provided, so a parent with a child in either category may want to ask the school directly about its support capacity. Enrollment runs across the full kindergarten through eighth-grade span with reasonably even grade sizes, making this a moderately sized school for its band.

The state assessment picture is uneven and worth examining closely. On the Florida FAST math assessment, sixth graders posted strong proficiency, and seventh graders performed solidly above the midpoint. Third, fourth, and eighth grades came in near the midpoint, while fifth grade came in below it. On the ELA side, sixth grade again stood out as the strongest year, while third through fifth and seventh through eighth grade all sat below or at the midpoint. Science proficiency at fifth and eighth grade was below the midpoint in both tested years. The data carries no multi-year trend because the state's shift from FSA to the FAST assessment means year-over-year comparisons cannot be made with confidence. What a parent sees here is a school with real variation across grades, with the middle school entry point of sixth grade being a consistent bright spot and the upper elementary years showing weaker results. That pattern is worth raising with the school directly.

The comparison data provided covers Sarasota County, but the county's charter universe as structured in the available set contains only one district-level entity, so a formal side-by-side ranking against peers was not generated. A graduation rate does not apply here because the school ends at eighth grade.

Palmer Ranch is a master-planned community in the southern part of Sarasota, part of a growth corridor that has seen continued residential expansion. Publicly reported data describes Sarasota and its suburbs as among the faster-growing areas in the state since 2020, drawing retirees, remote workers, and families, with new housing starts concentrated in precisely this southern and eastern belt of the county. Home values in the zip code are well above both the state median and the national median, and rents run high as well. Both have pulled back modestly year over year, consistent with publicly reported accounts of a market absorbing a significant wave of new supply and rising apartment vacancy. For a family relocating, the housing market here is expensive but showing early signs of softening.

The broader district context is relevant even for a charter family. Sarasota County voters renewed a property tax millage in late 2024 that runs through 2030, with a portion of those funds now shared with charter schools proportionate to enrollment, publicly reported. The district also approved a structural reorganization of several campuses in late 2025, converting some elementary schools into K-8 configurations with new program additions, a change driven partly by a shift in state law around charter co-location. While these moves primarily affect district schools, they reflect the competitive and changing environment in which Imagine School at Palmer Ranch operates.

Program offerings specific to this school were not available in the data provided, so what electives, enrichment, or intervention structures the school offers is a gap a prospective family would need to fill by visiting or contacting the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 73% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 72% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 66% · ▼ 32 pts below district

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

Grade 683%

School 83% · District 68% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 73% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 52% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 67% · ▼ 30 pts below district

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

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 67% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 62% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 66% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 65% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 63% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 67% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 58% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

This schoolSARASOTA, 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.