Summary:
ZIP code 85201 has one listed middle school, Carson Junior High School, serving grades 7–9 in Mesa Unified District. The school has 946 students and a student-teacher ratio of 18.7. In 2025–26, its average proficiency across ELA and math was 14%, compared with 37% statewide. The most important finding for families is that Carson’s results were substantially below state benchmarks in every reported subject and grade.
There is no second school in the ZIP-code list to compare with Carson or identify as a local leader. Carson’s all-grades ELA proficiency was 17%, 24 points below the state’s 41%; its math proficiency was 11%, 22 points below the state’s 33%. The grade-level results show similarly large gaps: ELA was 25 points below the state in grade 7 and 24 points below in grade 8, while math was 15 points below in grade 7 and 19 points below in grade 8. The widest listed gap was grade 7 ELA; eighth-grade science, reported for 2024–25, was 10%, 20 points below the state’s 30%.
SchoolDigger places Carson 513th of 536 schools statewide, in the 4th percentile, with 0 stars for 2025–26. That is a modest improvement from 534th of 552 and the 3rd percentile in 2024–25, but its earlier 2023–24 standing was 524th of 550 and the 5th percentile, so the sequence does not show a sustained rise. The enrollment and student-teacher ratio describe Carson but cannot be compared with another local school; no free/reduced-lunch rate is provided. Test results cover just one year for ELA and math and a different year for science, so they do not establish achievement trends.
Thank you for your feedback!