The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Math. The lowest is 39% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Pine Crest Elementary School
Pine Crest Elementary sits at the corner of a residential block in Sanford, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of Seminole County Public Schools. The school's student body reflects the neighborhood it draws from: the large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making it one of the higher-need campuses in the county by that measure. The student population is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with smaller shares of white and multiracial students. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the data provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, Pine Crest's results fall below where a family hoping for grade-level proficiency would want to see them. In third grade, roughly half of students tested proficient in math, and just over a third in ELA. By fifth grade, both figures are lower still, with math showing the steepest drop. Fifth-grade science sits just above the midpoint. There is an anomalous sixth-grade math result in the data that reads extremely high, which appears inconsistent with the school's grade span and may reflect a data artifact; parents should ask the school directly about that figure. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers are improving or holding steady. A family weighing enrollment would do well to ask Pine Crest's principal what targeted supports are in place for students reading or calculating below grade level, and what the trajectory looks like in recent years.
No program offerings data was provided, so whether the school has specialized tracks, enrichment programs, or particular instructional approaches is not something that can be characterized here.
On the district side, Seminole County Public Schools made a few changes worth knowing about. Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, elementary students are required to keep phones silenced and in their backpacks all day, a policy that shapes the daily environment. The district also formally classified AI-assisted schoolwork as plagiarism beginning in the 2024-2025 year. Voters renewed a penny sales tax in late 2024 that will fund school facility improvements, security, and technology over the coming years, which is a meaningful long-term investment in district infrastructure.
The housing market around the school in Sanford has cooled modestly from its peak, with home values in the zip code sitting below both the Florida statewide median and the national median and edging slightly lower over the past year. Rents have ticked up slightly. Buying remains a stretch relative to income by standard affordability measures, though the area is meaningfully less expensive than many other parts of the Orlando metro. The broader context in Sanford is one of active growth: the city is in the middle of a significant residential development push, with multiple large apartment and townhome projects either approved or under construction. Families considering the area should expect the neighborhood character around the school's corridor to continue shifting as new housing comes online.
Sanford itself has a genuine sense of place anchored in its historic downtown along Lake Monroe, with walkable streets, a Saturday farmers market, a waterfront path, and a performing arts center. The area around Pine Crest on West 27th Street is more residential and car-dependent than that core. Major employers publicly reported in Sanford include the Orlando Sanford International Airport, Seminole State College, and Seminole County Public Schools itself, among others.
Pine Crest is a neighborhood public elementary in a high-need community where the academic proficiency numbers, as currently reported, are below state norms across subjects and grades. That is a straightforward fact families should weigh. It does not speak to what happens inside classrooms, to the quality of relationships between staff and children, or to whether the school is moving in a positive direction, none of which the available data addresses. Those are conversations worth having directly with the school.
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