The school does not primarily serve the surrounding neighborhoods, but instead takes applications from middle school students all over the county. Selection is done via a lottery system for all magnet programs except for Visual & Performing Arts, for which acceptance is based on ability; students must audition for this program. Most students living around the Coral Reef area attend
Miami Palmetto Senior High School or
Miami Killian Senior High School. Coral Reef has received an "A" grade for its performance on the
FCAT examination on ten occasions since the annual test was first administered in 1998. Coral Reef has three publications: the newspaper,
Baitline; the yearbook,
Tsunami; and the literary magazine,
Elysium. The newspaper is published monthly while, the yearbook and literary magazine are published annually. The daily morning newscast,
CRTV Live (originally known as
Cudavision, and later adapted to include the channel number as
Cudavision 21), airs on closed-circuit channel 21. Coral Reef has six magnets:
International Baccalaureate, Health Sciences, Business & Finance, Legal & Public Affairs, Agriscience & Engineering Technology, and Visual & Performing Arts. == Athletics ==