Scottsdale Unified District

Scottsdale Unified District includes 30 schools in the Scottsdale area: 19 elementary schools, five middle schools, five high schools and one alternative school, serving students from elementary grades through high school. Across the schools with results in both subjects, the average was 59% proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) and 54% in math, compared with state figures of 41% and 33%. But averages hide substantial differences: ELA results ranged from 81% to 22%, and math from 86% to 9%—the most important finding for families is how uneven school-level results are.

Cheyenne Traditional School leads in all-grades ELA, with 81% proficient, 40 percentage points above the state and 24 points above the other schools’ average. Cherokee Elementary School leads in math at 86%, 53 points above the state and 31 points above the other schools’ average. Among high schools, Desert Mountain High School leads with 72% in ELA and 62% in math—31 and 29 points above state figures. At the other end, Coronado High School has 22% in ELA and 18% in math, below the state by 19 and 15 points. Yavapai Elementary School is also below state in both subjects, at 24% and 20%; Tonalea Middle School has the lowest math result, 9%.

SchoolDigger rankings rose overall for the 28 schools with comparable histories: 15 improved, two were unchanged and 11 fell, with an average gain of about 1 percentile point. Saguaro High School had the largest rise, 16 points, while Cherokee Elementary School ranked ninth of 900 Arizona elementary schools and Cheyenne Traditional School ranked 25th. SchoolDigger rankings show relative standing, not changes in test-score gaps. School size and student-teacher ratio do not offer a simple guide to results: Desert Mountain is the largest school, with 1,905 students, while Tonalea has a 10.8-to-1 ratio but just 9% math proficiency.