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Desert Willow Elementary School

Public Grades PK, KG-8
740th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 900 Arizona Elementary Schools
Better than 18% of Arizona elementary schools
Summary

Desert Willow Elementary School serves 505 students in pre-K through eighth grade in Casa Grande, Arizona. Its latest results show that students do better overall in English language arts (ELA) and math than students across the Casa Grande Elementary District, but proficiency remains below state rates. The most important finding is the sharp variation by grade: fourth grade stands out, while fifth-grade ELA and science are notable weaknesses.

Compared with nearby schools, Desert Willow is around the middle overall, with ELA closer to local results than math. In 2025–2026, 27% of students were proficient in ELA and 20% in math, versus nearby-school averages of 29% and 24%; the school ranked sixth of ten locally in ELA and fifth in math. Both results exceeded district rates—21% in ELA and 16% in math—but were below state rates of 41% and 33%. Fourth grade was a bright spot: ELA proficiency was 40%, second-highest locally, and math was 36%, tied for the highest. By contrast, fifth-grade ELA was 17%, below the state’s 38%, the district’s 20%, and the nearby-school average of 23%. Fifth-grade science was also low at 18%, below all five nearby schools with reported results.

Science has declined overall: fifth-grade proficiency fell from 30% in 2022–2023 to 18% in 2024–2025, despite a small rebound from 15% the prior year. The state stayed at 34%, so the gap widened from 4 to 16 percentage points. SchoolDigger ranks Desert Willow at the 18th percentile statewide for 2025–2026, with 1 star; that is up from a low of the 7th percentile in 2023–2024, but below its 55th-percentile standing in 2015–2016. Enrollment and staffing are fairly typical locally: the student–teacher ratio is 21.9, near the nearby average of 22.2. The reported free/reduced-lunch rate was 54% in 2022–2023. In SchoolDigger’s 2022–2023 group rankings, the school ranked at the 68th percentile for English Language Learner students, compared with the 36th percentile overall; for Multi-racial students, it ranked at the 1st percentile. These group rankings are from different years and are signals for further inquiry, not current-year measures.

505
Students ?
21.9
Student/teacher ratio ?
$7,769
Per pupil spending ?
44.8%
Directly certified for free meals (2024-25) ?
 2172 N Arizola Rd
       Casa Grande, AZ  85122-6372

(520) 876-5397

District: Casa Grande Elementary District

Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:
57.2%
White:
28.7%
African American:
5.9%
more
 See top rated Arizona elementary schools

 Compare Desert Willow Elementary School to nearby elementary schools!
At a glance
▼ Ranking trend: Declining — 55th percentile in 2016 → 18th in 2026
Worth a look
!Test scores below the Arizona average (23% vs 37% meeting standards)
!In the lower quartile statewide (18th percentile)
!Ranking has slipped — down 37 percentile points since 2016
Students meeting standards (2025-2026) ?
This school23%
District avg18%
Arizona avg37%
740th of 900
Arizona public elementary schools ?
Bottom 18%▼ down 37 pts since 2016
From top 45% (2016) to bottom 18% (2026)
See the entire ranking list of Arizona Elementary Schools →
★★★★★
SchoolDigger rating ?
3rd of 9Elementary Schools in the Casa Grande Elementary District
250th of 267Casa Grande Elementary District among Arizona districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202617.8740 of 90017.8%★☆☆☆☆
202514.7791 of 90913.0%★☆☆☆☆
202411.5846 of 9127.2%☆☆☆☆☆
202331.1802 of 124535.6%★★☆☆☆
202231.0625 of 100037.5%★★☆☆☆
202156.0489 of 122660.1%★★★☆☆
201949.6478 of 103954.0%★★★☆☆
201855.4448 of 110959.6%★★★☆☆
201743.7569 of 110648.6%★★☆☆☆
201649.7488 of 107954.8%★★★☆☆
201525.4685 of 95528.3%★☆☆☆☆
201451.3533 of 107950.6%★★★☆☆
201354.9519 of 115855.2%★★★☆☆
201261.5438 of 114161.6%★★★☆☆
201164.4383 of 107564.4%★★★☆☆
201065.9374 of 109065.7%★★★☆☆
200965.4391 of 106263.2%★★★☆☆

African American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202342.8348 of 60742.7%★★☆☆☆
202140.6486 of 89545.7%★★☆☆☆

Asian

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202171.5133 of 62078.5%★★★★☆

English Language Learner

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202357.0145 of 45167.8%★★★☆☆
202149.0228 of 97576.6%★★★★☆

Female

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202333.7749 of 121938.6%★★☆☆☆
202220.1692 of 82416.0%★☆☆☆☆
202154.0495 of 121959.4%★★★☆☆
201939.1492 of 86242.9%★★☆☆☆
201858.3401 of 102360.8%★★★☆☆

Foster Care

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202129.4276 of 3069.8%☆☆☆☆☆

Hispanic

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202330.8811 of 117030.7%★★☆☆☆
202215.6647 of 7169.6%☆☆☆☆☆
202151.9486 of 119859.4%★★★☆☆
201936.5428 of 70939.6%★★☆☆☆
201846.6434 of 91152.4%★★★☆☆

Homeless

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202132.0303 of 42328.4%★☆☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202321.3951 of 111614.8%★☆☆☆☆
201857.4303 of 82063.0%★★★☆☆

Male

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
20269.7559 of 5915.4%☆☆☆☆☆
202326.5879 of 121627.7%★☆☆☆☆
202226.2625 of 83024.7%★☆☆☆☆
202157.5456 of 122062.6%★★★☆☆
201942.9451 of 85046.9%★★☆☆☆
201854.3428 of 103258.5%★★★☆☆

Multi-racial

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
20239.0611 of 6171.0%☆☆☆☆☆
202273.673 of 44483.6%★★★★☆
202166.0249 of 102775.8%★★★★☆

Native American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202140.2344 of 65447.4%★★☆☆☆

Special Education

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202321.1730 of 82011.0%★☆☆☆☆
202163.5233 of 120180.6%★★★★☆

White

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankArizona percentileRating
202322.1859 of 102416.1%★☆☆☆☆
202245.1434 of 80045.8%★★☆☆☆
202158.2440 of 116162.1%★★★☆☆
201947.1336 of 59543.5%★★☆☆☆
201860.0302 of 72058.1%★★★☆☆
How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)
Asian (2021)79th percentile+18 vs school
English Language Learner (2023)68th percentile+32 vs school
Native American (2021)47th percentile-13 vs school
African American (2023)43rd percentile+7 vs school
Female (2023)39th percentile+3 vs school
Hispanic (2023)31st percentile-5 vs school
Homeless (2021)28th percentile-32 vs school
White (2023)16th percentile-19 vs school
Low Socio Economic Status (2023)15th percentile-21 vs school
Special Education (2023)11th percentile-25 vs school
Foster Care (2021)10th percentile-50 vs school
Male (2026)5th percentile-12 vs school
Multi-racial (2023)1st percentile-35 vs school
By subject vs Arizona (2025-2026) ?
English Language Arts27%-14 vs state
Mathematics20%-13 vs state

★
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Frequently Asked Questions about Desert Willow Elementary School

In the 2024-25 school year, 505 students attended Desert Willow Elementary School.

Desert Willow Elementary School ranks in the bottom 17.8% of Arizona elementary schools.

Students at Desert Willow Elementary School are 57% Hispanic, 29% White, 6% African American, 4% Two or more races, 3% American Indian.

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Latest Arizona data All new data »
2025–26 AASA test scoresNewOct 13, 2026
2024–25 dropout ratesDec 2, 2025
2024–25 graduation ratesNov 7, 2025
2024–25 AASA & AzSCI test scoresOct 10, 2025


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

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.

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