Summary:
ZIP code 85043 has 13 schools—six elementary, four middle and three high—with reported enrollment averaging about 399 students per school. Results vary widely, but most reported all-grades proficiency rates are below the state benchmarks of 41% in English language arts (ELA) and 33% in math. The most important finding is that Maricopa Institute of Technology is a striking academic outlier, while the other schools’ results are generally much lower.
Maricopa Institute of Technology (MIT) leads the reported all-grades results with 79% proficiency in ELA and 54% in math—51 and 25 points above the next-highest schools, Kings Ridge School at 28% in ELA and Sun Canyon School at 29% in math. At the low end, Western Valley Elementary School reports 16% in ELA, and Western Valley Middle School reports 4% in math. Among elementary grade-level results, Fowler Elementary School leads grade 3 ELA at 32%, while Sun Canyon leads grade 3 math at 36% and grade 5 math at 39%. Completion also merits attention: Hope High School has a 33% graduation rate and 27% dropout rate, compared with state rates of 80% and 5%.
SchoolDigger ranking percentiles show gains for MIT, rising from 61 to 92, and Kings Ridge, from 11 to 37; Western Valley Elementary School fell from 16 to 3, and Fowler from 25 to 15. These ranking changes are not proficiency changes, and the supplied achievement results cover only one year. School size and staffing do not neatly track scores: MIT enrolls 47 students and has a reported student–teacher ratio of 47, yet has the highest proficiency results. For context, the average ratio across the 13 schools is 23. Families comparing options should also look at the tested grade and subject: strong results in one grade do not necessarily carry across a school’s other grades or subjects.
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