Wade Carpenter Middle School

Wade Carpenter Middle School is a public middle school located in Nogales, Arizona, serving grades 6-8 with a total enrollment of 557 students. The school is part of the Nogales Unified District, which is ranked 218 out of 289 districts in Arizona and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger. Over the past several years, Wade Carpenter Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Arizona middle schools, with a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Wade Carpenter Middle School consistently underperforms compared to the Nogales Unified District and the state of Arizona in standardized test scores across all grade levels and subject areas. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 13% of 8th-grade students were proficient or better in Science, compared to 18% for the district and 30% for the state. Similarly, in Mathematics, only 12-16% of students in grades 6-8 were proficient or better, compared to 21-28% for the district and 27-29% for the state. The school also has relatively high dropout rates, ranging from 2.4% to 6.1% over the past few years, which are higher than the state average.

While Wade Carpenter Middle School is part of the same district as Desert Shadows Middle School, the latter school consistently outperforms Wade Carpenter in academic metrics, ranking in the top half of Arizona middle schools with a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger. This suggests that there may be significant differences in the quality of education and resources between the two schools within the same district. Additionally, the school's performance is particularly concerning for certain student subgroups, with the school ranking in the bottom 25% of Arizona middle schools for female, male, and Hispanic students, as well as for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.