Summary:
Maricopa Unified School District has two high schools: Maricopa High School, serving grades 6–12, and Desert Sunrise High School, serving grades 9–12. Their 11th-grade results offer the fairest comparison: both schools are close to each other in English and math, but both fall short of state proficiency rates in those subjects. On average, their 11th graders are about 9 percentage points below the state in English and 11 points below in math—the clearest shared academic concern.
Neither school leads across every subject. Desert Sunrise is ahead in 11th-grade English, with 31% proficient compared with 28% at Maricopa; Maricopa leads in math by 1 point (21% to 20%) and science by 4 points (19% to 15%). Maricopa’s science rate matches the state’s 19%, while Desert Sunrise is 4 points below. Desert Sunrise stands out most in graduation: about 93% graduate, versus 83% at Maricopa and 80% statewide. Maricopa is also above the state, by about 3 points. Dropout rates are about 3% at Desert Sunrise and 4% at Maricopa, compared with 5% statewide.
SchoolDigger rates both schools 2 stars; Desert Sunrise ranks 168th of 256 Arizona schools (34th percentile), slightly ahead of Maricopa at 173rd (32nd percentile). Maricopa is larger, with 1,840 students versus 1,261, and has a lower student–teacher ratio: 21.5 compared with 23.2. Those figures do not point to one school being stronger overall: the smaller, higher-ratio Desert Sunrise leads in English and graduation, while Maricopa leads in math and science. Maricopa’s SchoolDigger percentile moved from 36th in 2023–24 to 31st in 2024–25, then to 32nd in 2025–26; Desert Sunrise has only a 2025–26 ranking in the supplied data. Proficiency results are available for one year, so the ranking history does not show whether test scores are improving or declining.
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