The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Math. The lowest is 52% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bear Lake Elementary School
Bear Lake Elementary sits on Gleaves Court in Apopka, a large, sprawling suburban city at the northwest edge of the greater Orlando area. The school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public elementary within Seminole County Public Schools, drawing from a community that is growing rapidly, particularly along the Kelly Park corridor where a wave of master-planned housing developments has been reshaping the city's northwest quadrant. The enrollment is sizable for an elementary school, and the student body is genuinely diverse: Hispanic and white students each account for roughly similar and substantial shares, Black students make up a meaningful portion, and smaller numbers of Asian and multiracial students round out the mix. A clear majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is an important economic context for reading the academic data. Data on English learner and special education populations were not available in the records we reviewed.
On state assessments, results are mixed and worth a parent's careful attention. In reading and English language arts, proficiency across tested grades runs roughly in the low to mid fifties, meaning that more students are below grade-level benchmarks than above them at each grade tested. The pattern in math is more variable: third graders perform around the midpoint, fourth grade falls below it, and fifth grade math proficiency is notably low. The sixth-grade math figure that appears in the data is an outlier that likely reflects a very small group tested outside the typical grade band and should not be read as representative of the school's overall math picture. Fifth-grade science proficiency lands near the midpoint. Because Florida recently changed its assessment system to FAST, trend data across years is not available, so it is not possible to tell from this data whether results are improving, stable, or declining. A parent would be well served to ask the school directly about how they are tracking student growth and what targeted supports are in place, particularly in upper-elementary math.
The surrounding housing market reflects the broader Orlando suburban dynamic. Home values in the school's zip code are modestly below the Florida statewide median, with prices having slipped slightly year over year. Rents have also edged down slightly. The price-to-income ratio is stretched compared to national norms, and the estimated monthly cost of ownership is meaningful for families on moderate incomes, though renting still runs somewhat below a typical mortgage payment.
Apopka itself is car-dependent and geographically expansive, with daily life organized around driving rather than walking. The city has a small historic downtown along Main Street and a regional park and outdoor recreation network that includes access to Wekiwa Springs State Park, Lake Apopka, and Kelly Park. Library service for the area comes from the Orange County Library System's North Orange Branch. Transit exists through Lynx bus routes but is limited. The city is one of the faster-growing submarkets in the Orlando metro, driven heavily by new single-family and mixed-use construction, which means school enrollment pressures and neighborhood change are live dynamics families should factor in when thinking about stability over time.
At the district level, Seminole County Public Schools has made a few changes worth knowing about. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, the district banned cell phone use for elementary students throughout the school day entirely, which applies to Bear Lake Elementary. The district also formally classified AI-assisted writing as plagiarism beginning in 2024-25. On the funding side, voters renewed a countywide infrastructure sales tax in late 2024 that directs money to school facilities, security, and technology for another extended period. The property tax millage rate has edged down slightly in recent years, though rising home values mean most homeowners are paying more in total school taxes than before.
Families considering Bear Lake Elementary are looking at a diverse, economically mixed school in a fast-changing suburban city, where academic proficiency results currently sit below the majority threshold across most tested grades and subjects. The school merits direct conversation about its academic support structures, particularly for families whose children may need reinforcement in reading or math.
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