Best Middle Schools in Arizona

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Find the best Arizona middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Arizona test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the AASA and AzSCI test scores by the Arizona Department of Education. The most recent update was on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2022)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 552)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
541	Cactus Middle School	Public	6-8	1220 E Kortsen Rd	Casa Grande	85122	Pinal County	Casa Grande Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(520) 421-3330	737	37	20.1		142 (19.3%)	40 (5.4%)	501 (68.0%)	5 (0.7%)	19 (2.6%)	2 (0.3%)	28 (3.8%)	$6,488	$592	$138	$1,322	$4,874	$884	$5,759	8.7	10.8	519	22		040171002213
542	Coolidge Junior High School	Public	6-8	800 N 9th St	Coolidge	85128	Pinal County	Coolidge Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(520) 723-2305	688	37	18.5		102 (14.8%)	65 (9.4%)	381 (55.4%)	4 (0.6%)	99 (14.4%)	1 (0.1%)	36 (5.2%)		$00			$00			8.6	7.7	544	2		040232001534
543	Challenger Middle School	Public	6-8	100 E Elvira Rd	Tucson	85756	Pima County	Sunnyside Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(520) 545-4600	590	30	19.5		21 (3.6%)	21 (3.6%)	508 (86.1%)	2 (0.3%)	32 (5.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.0%)	$6,510	$574	$39	$1,187	$5,393	$504	$5,897	8.3	6.8	549	6		040817001613
544	Pat Tillman Middle School	Public	PK, KG-8	4309 E Belleview Street	Phoenix	85008	Maricopa County	Balsz Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(602) 629-6500	598	35	17.2		21 (3.5%)	99 (16.6%)	404 (67.6%)	3 (0.5%)	52 (8.7%)	6 (1.0%)	13 (2.2%)		$00			$00			8.2	8.9	535	9		040105000054
545	Desert Sands Academy of Mass Communication & Journalism	Public	6-8	6308 W Campbell Ave	Phoenix	85033	Maricopa County	Cartwright Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(623) 691-4900	510	28	18.5		14 (2.7%)	43 (8.4%)	437 (85.7%)	3 (0.6%)	10 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	$14,529	$2,484	$477	$5,445	$9,954	$1,614	$11,568	8.1	7	548	3		040168000092
546	Kino Junior High School	Public	7-8	848 N Horne	Mesa	85203	Maricopa County	Mesa Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(480) 472-2400	805	40	20.3		63 (7.8%)	45 (5.6%)	638 (79.3%)	4 (0.5%)	37 (4.6%)	4 (0.5%)	14 (1.7%)	$6,995	$500	$39	$1,040	$6,041	$415	$6,456	7.8	8	541	5		040497000396
547	Apollo Middle School	Public	6-8	265 West Nebraska Street	Tucson	85706	Pima County	Sunnyside Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(520) 545-4500	480	33	14.5		7 (1.5%)	6 (1.3%)	442 (92.1%)	1 (0.2%)	19 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.0%)	$8,739	$942	$65	$1,950	$7,035	$697	$7,732	7.8	9.6	529	18		040817000706
548	Imagine Desert West Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	6738 W McDowell Rd	Phoenix	85035	Maricopa County	Imagine Desert West Middle Inc.	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(623) 469-2024	437	21	20.8		7 (1.6%)	32 (7.3%)	380 (87.0%)	3 (0.7%)	2 (0.5%)	3 (0.7%)	10 (2.3%)		$00			$00			7.4	9.9	526	22		040075402819
549	Virtual School of Arizona	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2500 S Power Rd Ste 215	Mesa	85209	Maricopa County	Arizona Education Solutions	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	No	(602) 641-8254	849				299 (35.2%)	80 (9.4%)	388 (45.7%)	14 (1.6%)	36 (4.2%)	8 (0.9%)	24 (2.8%)	$9,054	$00			$00	$9,054	$9,054	7.3			(n/a)		040082703252
550	Fox Creek Junior High School	Public	5-8	3101 Desert Sky Blvd	Bullhead City	86442	Mohave County	Bullhead City School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(928) 704-2500	433				154 (35.6%)	7 (1.6%)	250 (57.7%)	8 (1.8%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.5%)	$5,264	$638	$49	$1,325	$4,119	$458	$4,577	7.2	10.3	521	29		040150001757

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Arizona

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for AZ student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on AASA English Language Arts, AASA Mathematics, AzSCI Science test scores released by the Arizona Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 11, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Arizona Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Arizona Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Arizona Department of Education.