NCES CCD 2024-25 31 schools FL

Best-Resourced Schools in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Compiled from official source data by .

31 public K-12 schools in Fort Lauderdale from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
31
Schools
19,752
Students
37.5/100
Avg Resource Index
15.8:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Fort Lauderdale has more public-school enrollment than 92% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Fort Lauderdale sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

23 of Fort Lauderdale's 31 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 71-point gap between Pine Ridge Alternative Center and Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy shows the range hidden by Fort Lauderdale's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 8%
School count
Top 8%
Resource Index average
35th percentile
Teacher staffing
45th percentile

Fort Lauderdale school enrollment varies 58× across entities

Fort Lauderdale school enrollment ranges from 39 students (lowest) to 2,260 students (highest), a spread of 2,221 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Fort Lauderdale reports 65.0% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Fort Lauderdale student-teacher ratio is 15.8:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Fort Lauderdale is typically wider than the Fort Lauderdale-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Pine Ridge Alternative Center 71
2. Broward Detention Center 70
3. Whiddon Rodgers Education Center 63
4. Seagull School 62
5. Wingate Oaks Center 57
6. Dillard 6-12 43
7. William Dandy Middle School 43
8. North Side Elementary School 42
9. Floranada Elementary School 40
10. Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School 40
11. Bennett Elementary School 40
12. Charter School of Excellence 38
13. Bayview Elementary School 37
14. Sunrise Middle School 35
15. Harbordale Elementary School 35
16. Walker Elementary School 35
17. New Life Charter Academy 35
18. Fort Lauderdale High School 34
19. Croissant Park Elementary School 34
20. Stranahan High School 32
21. Stephen Foster Elementary School 30
22. Westwood Heights Elementary School 30
23. North Fork Elementary School 29
24. Thurgood Marshall Elementary School 29
25. Meadowbrook Elementary School 28
26. Riverland Elementary School 28
27. Rock Island Elementary School 27
28. Dillard Elementary School 26
29. Sunland Park Academy 25
30. New River Middle School 24
31. Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy -

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Fort Lauderdale

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School 69.6/100
  2. 2 Fort Lauderdale High School 67.8/100
  3. 3 Floranada Elementary School 66.8/100
  4. 4 Sunrise Middle School 65.5/100
  5. 5 Harbordale Elementary School 64.1/100

What do families ask about schools in Fort Lauderdale?

Which Fort Lauderdale school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Pine Ridge Alternative Center has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Fort Lauderdale schools in this federal-data comparison at 71/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Fort Lauderdale, FL? ▼

Fort Lauderdale has 31 public schools with a total enrollment of 19,752 students. 3 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 15.8:1.

Other Cities in Florida

Miami
286 schools
Orlando
208 schools
Jacksonville
197 schools
Tampa
170 schools
Lakeland
60 schools
Pensacola
58 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Florida →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.