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A new Arts Access Miami case study highlights how sustained arts education, embedded within a broader school transformation strategy, helped support academic gains, stronger student engagement and improved school culture at Leisure City K-8 Center, a Title I public school in South Dade.
The case study, A Diamond in the Rough: How a Vision for Arts Education Transformed Leisure City K-8 Center, examines the school’s progress from the 2018-19 through 2024-25 school years as Leisure City K-8 expanded from a STEM school to a STEAM school.
The report does not suggest that arts education alone caused the school’s academic progress. Rather, it shows how arts programming, when combined with strong school leadership, district support, family trust and a clear schoolwide vision, helped create conditions in which students were more connected, engaged and ready to learn.
The case study draws on interviews with Leisure City K-8 leadership, Miami-Dade County Public Schools regional leaders, Florida TaxWatch and a Leisure City K-8 parent, along with analysis of school grades, attendance, student behavior, School Climate Survey results, Florida Assessment of Student Thinking math and English language arts data, and related documents and media materials.
The report covers the school’s progress from the 2018-19 through 2024-25 school years, with academic data compared against relevant district, state and Florida Title I non-charter school benchmarks where available.
By the 2024-25 school year, the case study found that Leisure City K-8:
• Ranked in the 94th percentile for seventh grade math learning gains among Florida Title I non-charter schools.
• Ranked in the 93rd percentile for sixth grade English language arts learning gains among Florida Title I non-charter schools.
• Increased third-grade promotion from 86.8 percent in 2018-19 to 100 perent in 2024-25.
• Increased English language arts proficiency from 39.5 percent in 2022-23 to 49.1 percent in 2024-25, outpacing Miami-Dade County’s rate of improvement over the same period.
• Increased math proficiency from 48 percent in 2022-23 to 54.6 percent in 2024-25, closely tracking countywide improvement.
• Exceeded county averages for learning gains among students in the lowest-performing 25 percent in both English language arts and math.
In Florida, third-grade promotion is a critical academic milestone because reading proficiency by the end of third grade is closely tied to future academic success. Leisure City K-8’s improvement from 86.8 percent third-grade promotion in 2018-19 to 100 percent in 2024-25 reflects one indicator of the school’s academic momentum.
Meaningful Changes in School Climate
The case study also points to meaningful changes in school climate. Leisure City K-8’s annual School Climate Survey, a standard Miami-Dade County Public Schools survey administered to students, showed that the share of students reporting they liked attending the school rose from 48 percent in 2023-24 to 100 percent in 2024-25.
Since becoming principal of Leisure City K-8 in 2019, Walter C. Hall has worked with his leadership team to strengthen student engagement, family trust and school-community connection. When Hall arrived, the school had limited elective offerings and no middle school music program. Through schedule changes, schoolwide planning and new partnerships, Leisure City K-8 began building the infrastructure to expand student opportunities beyond core academics.
Arts Access Miami became part of that strategy in 2022, helping the school bring in consistent, professionally led arts programming, instructors, instruments and performance opportunities. Through partners including Young Musicians Unite, Guitars Over Guns, Vocal Youth Miami and Save The Music, Leisure City K-8 expanded access to music and arts programs that gave students new reasons to participate, perform and feel connected to school.
“Arts Access Miami gave us the instructional tools we needed, from instruments to teachers,” Hall said. “We saw suspensions and office referrals decline, and students started buying into the larger vision of the school. They wanted to come to school, participate and be part of something.”
History of Transformation
Hall was named the 2024-25 Miami-Dade County Public Schools Principal of the Year by the Dade Association of School Administrators. That same year, Leisure City K-8 was named one of Florida’s 15 most successful high-risk public schools by Florida TaxWatch.
“Leisure City K-8 shows what becomes possible when arts education is treated as part of the core school strategy, not as an extra,” said Sammy Gonzalez Zeira, CEO of Young Musicians Unite and president of Arts Access Miami. “The arts gave students more than a class. They gave students a reason to show up, a way to belong and a chance to see themselves as part of something bigger. That kind of connection can change the culture of a school.”
As the school’s arts programming grew, so did its vision for what students could experience. In 2025, Leisure City K-8 launched Florida’s first and only mariachi magnet program, centered on the traditional Mexican ensemble format of brass, strings and vocal harmonies. The program built on the school’s growing arts momentum and expanded the role of music as part of the student experience.
“Normally, you see one or two percentage points of incremental growth, but to see gains of this nature is a testament to the leadership of the school and the role the arts can play in creating more meaningful student experiences,” said Martin T. Reid, administrative director of the South Region for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. “This case study is one of the reasons we continue to partner with Arts Access Miami. We have seen firsthand how the arts can help students feel more connected to school.”
The Leisure City K-8 program is part of a broader Arts Access Miami effort to expand access to free, high-quality arts education across Miami-Dade County through coordinated partnerships among schools, nonprofit organizations, funders and civic leaders.
During the 2026-27 school year, Arts Access Miami will include 31 partner organizations working across more than 88 schools and community sites throughout Miami-Dade County, serving more than 17,000 students annually. Since its launch, the initiative has reached more than 40,000 students through programs in music, visual arts, dance and other creative disciplines.
To read the full case study, visit www.artsaccessmiami.org/impact.
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