Middle Schools in Washington Elementary School District

The five middle schools in Washington Elementary School District serve grades 5–8: Cholla Middle School and Royal Palm Middle School serve grades 5–8, while the other three serve grades 7–8. Across all grades, the schools average 31% proficiency in ELA and 23% in math, each about 10 percentage points below the state results. In same-grade comparisons, the group is closer to the state in math than ELA, though averages remain below state results in both subjects. The most important difference for families is that Palo Verde Middle School is consistently at the bottom of the reported results.

Royal Palm Middle School leads all-grades ELA at 37%, and its grade 8 ELA result of 39% matches the state; its grade 8 result is 20 points above Palo Verde Middle School’s 19%. Mountain Sky Middle School stands out in grade 7 ELA at 38%, grade 7 math at the state’s 27%, and grade 8 science at the state’s 30%. By contrast, Palo Verde Middle School has the lowest all-grades ELA and math results, 22% and 15%, and the lowest results in four of the reported grade-level AASA comparisons. Desert Foothills Middle School is a relative bright spot in grade 8 math at 28%, six points above the five-school average, though still below the state’s 30%.

SchoolDigger’s latest statewide rank percentiles place all five schools below the statewide midpoint, ranging from the 11th percentile at Palo Verde Middle School to the 42nd at Royal Palm Middle School. The group’s average percentile was about 32 in both 2023–24 and 2025–26, but schools moved differently: Royal Palm Middle School rose from 35th to 42nd, while Cholla Middle School and Desert Foothills Middle School each fell from 39th to 34th. Enrollment and ratios do not form a simple achievement pattern: Royal Palm Middle School is smallest at 465 students, while Palo Verde Middle School is largest at 797; Mountain Sky Middle School has the highest student–teacher ratio at 21.1, and Desert Foothills Middle School the lowest at 15.1. Grade spans differ, and free/reduced-lunch rates are unavailable for all five schools.