Best Public Schools in Zip Code 85304

ZIP code 85304 has seven schools: six elementary schools serving grades from kindergarten through grade 8, or prekindergarten through grade 8, and Ironwood High School, which serves grades 7–12. The elementary schools’ average proficiency is close to state results: 40% in ELA and 31% in math, compared with 41% and 33% statewide. But school results vary widely, with a 23-point ELA gap and a 34-point math gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring schools; the most important finding is that the area’s near-state averages conceal sharply different results from school to school.

Copperwood School is the strongest overall elementary performer, with 54% proficient in ELA and 55% in math—13 and 22 percentage points above the state, respectively. It also leads the supplied eighth-grade science results at 54%, compared with 30% statewide. SchoolDigger ranks Copperwood in the 80th percentile and gives it four stars. At the other end, Desert Palms Elementary School has the lowest ELA and math results, 31% and 21%, or 10 and 12 points below state figures; SchoolDigger places it in the 38th percentile with two stars. Ironwood High School also stands out: its graduation rate is 91%, versus 80% statewide.

SchoolDigger’s average percentile ranking across the seven schools rose from 44 to 51 over three years, though results diverged: Copperwood climbed 19 points, while Sweetwater School fell 17, from 64 to 47. Grade-level results offer useful contrasts: Desert Valley Elementary School reached 64% in third-grade ELA and 58% in math, while Sweetwater posted 54% in eighth-grade ELA and 37% in eighth-grade science. School size and student-teacher ratios do not neatly explain the differences: Copperwood and Marshall Ranch Elementary School have similar enrollment and ratios (16.8 and 16.9 students per teacher), yet Copperwood leads by 16 points in ELA and 28 in math. These comparisons describe differences, not their causes; AASA proficiency data covers one year, so it does not show whether test results are improving over time.