Construction at Goleman began in November of 1994. Its doors opened to its founding group of students on August 28, 1995. The school was built to relieve overcrowding at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School located in nearby Hialeah and American Senior High School in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida. The school uses a Miami Lakes address but mainly serves the city of Hialeah Gardens. The school's location next to I-75 makes it one of the first notable structures to greet travellers as they enter the county. Beginning in the early 2000s, the school suffered from rampant overcrowding due to a sudden population explosion in the area. The school's population during the 2001-2002 school years surpassed 5,000; this was 1,000 more students that the school's capacity of 4,015. Barbara Goleman still ranks as second most populated in the district after G. Holmes Braddock High School.
The school's mascot and colors, chosen by its first and second classes (Class of 1998) and (Class of 1999), were picked to reflect Florida's two major public universities – the mascot was taken from the University of Florida while the colors were taken from Florida State University.
The school is named after Barbara Goleman, 1969 National Teacher of the Year, the only Miami-Dade County Public School teacher to ever receive this title.
