Tsehootsooi Middle School

Tsehootsooi Middle School is a public middle school located in Fort Defiance, Arizona, serving grades 7-8 with a total enrollment of 273 students. The school is part of the Window Rock Unified District. Despite its small size, Tsehootsooi Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Arizona middle schools over the past several years.

Academically, the school faces significant challenges. Only 10% of 8th graders were proficient or better in Science, compared to the state average of 30%. Similarly, just 24-25% of 7th and 8th graders were proficient or better in English Language Arts, and only 10-12% were proficient in Math, all well below the state averages. The school also has relatively high dropout rates, ranging from 5.2% to 6.6% over the past few years. However, the school performs better for Native American students, ranking in the top 25% of Arizona middle schools serving this population.

Interestingly, the data shows that the Tsehootsooi Intermediate Learning Center, another middle school in the same district, generally has higher test scores than Tsehootsooi Middle School, suggesting that the younger students in the district may be performing better academically. The significant fluctuations in per-student spending at Tsehootsooi Middle School over the years, ranging from $5,224 to $15,878, may also be a contributing factor to the school's challenges and the need for consistent and adequate funding to support student success.