Summary:
ZIP code 85132 has two high schools, Poston Butte High School and Florence High School; both serve grades 7–12. In the latest reported ELA and math results, Poston Butte is ahead, but neither school reaches state proficiency levels: all-grades ELA proficiency is 31% at Poston Butte and 22% at Florence, compared with 41% statewide, while math is 24% and 17%, compared with 33% statewide. The same pattern holds in 11th grade. The most important takeaway is that Poston Butte leads locally, but both schools trail the state in ELA and math.
Poston Butte stands out for consistently higher proficiency, leading Florence by 9 percentage points in ELA and 7 points in math for both all grades and 11th grade, and by 4 points in 11th-grade science (22% versus 18%). SchoolDigger ranks Poston Butte 156th of 256 statewide, in the 39th percentile with 2 stars; Florence ranks 203rd of 256, in the 21st percentile with 1 star. Florence is the exception on graduation: its rate is 93%, versus 92% at Poston Butte, and both exceed the 80% state rate. Poston Butte’s reported dropout rate is lower, at 2% versus Florence’s 3%.
SchoolDigger rankings improved over the longer term for both schools, especially Poston Butte: from 2023–24 to 2025–26, Poston Butte rose 43 places and 13 percentile points, while Florence rose 21 places and 4 percentile points. More recently, their directions differed: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, Poston Butte’s percentile rose from 35 to 39, while Florence’s fell from 28 to 21. Poston Butte also has more students (1,310 versus 857) and a lower reported student–teacher ratio (18.8 versus 20.9); these are descriptive differences, not explanations for results. Test-score trends cannot be assessed because ELA and math results are available for only one year, and free/reduced-lunch rates are not provided.
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