History Tells Us

Miami Schools

Ah, beautiful Miami! Sun, sand and palm trees. It is also the city of opportunity for most students in kindergarten through end, through 12th grade attend the schools of Miami. Magnet programs are plentiful, and surrounding communities such as Coral Gables and Aventura abound with innovative and exciting school. Of course, Miami schools also have their fair share of problems, too. Budget concerns and dropout rates continue to burden the district.

One of the successes of schools in Miami "is Coral Gables. The city has a respected magnet program, which resides in Coral Gables High School. He received a Magnet School of Distinction Award at the 24th Annual Magnet Schools of America Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.

Also on the horizon for schools in Miami is a new International Studies Magnet High School, which opens near Coral Gables High School. It offers an intensive language study and culture. Seven hundred students from schools of Miami spend half of each day learning the history and cultures of Europe as a whole in a foreign language. It will be the first high school and only of its kind in the country! The curriculum is based on the international education programs that already exist in successful schools like Carver Miami, Sunset Elementary sun, and Ponce de Leon Middle School, all of which teach French, German and Spanish. Not only are students immersed in a foreign language, they are instructed in a foreign culture, just as other students in France, Germany or Spain would be. English not spoken at all during the foreign language of the day. It is as if the schools in these countries have been collected and set back down on the Miami School District of Miami-Dade. The program's goal is to train students who are competent in a foreign language.

Another success story for schools in Miami, at least so far, is the new ACES charter school, located in Aventura. The population of the school's student body began in 425. The city has also built a middle school expansion of ACES 300 seats. The school Charter is managed under contract by the U.S. charter schools. ACES has gifted teachers in each grade, custom assessment and objectives, a plan Study the formation of character, four computers installed in every classroom, an ESOL teacher full time, a science laboratory, and specialty classes not only in music, art, physical education and the media, but the computers, Spanish and science.

Not everything is roses Miami schools, however. 40 percent of students do not graduate from high school. The influx of young families in the last ten years requires more classrooms to serve new large scale residential projects that are emerging. Rising house prices in the Miami area schools force many young families to enter higher condominiums. This triggers a demographic change and the effects of what each school system receives the taxes of property.
In addition, the amendment to reduce classrooms around the state, approved by voters in 2002 has become a challenge for administrators of schools in Miami, as they must increasingly rely on portable classrooms. Miami Schools face many challenges, but are still capable of creating and maintaining some interesting options for innovation and school.

About the Author

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit
Miami Schools