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Best Public Schools in Zip Code 85396

New rankings! Arizona test scores for the 2025-26 school year were just released — SchoolDigger posted updated rankings this week.

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Test scores delayed: 2026 rankings for Arizona do not yet include the AzSCI Science tests, which have not yet been released by the Arizona Department of Education

At a glance

Schools

3,735

Students

Districts

Top rankedVerrado High School105^th of 256 Arizona high schools

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Biggest riser

Verrado High School up 46 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

The Odyssey Preparatory Academy - Sienna Hills 16.2 students per teacher

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Summary:

ZIP code 85396 has five schools serving 3,734 students: four elementary schools, including two serving prekindergarten through grade 8 and two serving prekindergarten through grade 5, plus one high school serving grades 9–12. Across all grades, the schools average 37% proficiency in English language arts (ELA), compared with 41% statewide, and 31% in math, compared with 33% statewide. The most important takeaway is that these averages conceal wide differences between schools, especially in math, where results span 19 percentage points.

Verrado High School leads all five schools in ELA at 44%, while The Odyssey Preparatory Academy – Sienna Hills is the elementary standout, with 43% in ELA and 40% in math—the highest elementary results in both subjects. Odyssey’s fifth-grade results are especially strong: 51% in ELA and 53% in math, both above the state’s 38%; its fifth-grade science result, 52%, also leads schools with reported scores. At the other end, Festival Foothills Elementary School has the lowest all-grades math result, 21%, though its third-grade math score of 41% is above the state’s 38%. Verrado also exceeds state results in 11th-grade ELA and math by 6 points each, and its graduation rate is 93%, compared with 80% statewide.

SchoolDigger ranking histories show mixed movement from 2023–24 to 2025–26: Verrado rose 9 percentile points, while Desert Sunset Elementary School was unchanged, Odyssey fell 5 points, and Tartesso Elementary School fell 9; Festival Foothills’ earlier history rose 4 points from 2021–22 to 2023–24. School size and ratios offer additional context, not a clear explanation for the results: Festival Foothills is the smallest, with 262 students, while Verrado is the largest, with 2,012; Odyssey’s student-teacher ratio is 16.2, compared with 23.1 at Desert Sunset and 18.3 at Tartesso. Odyssey’s fourth-grade scores are a counterpoint to its fifth-grade strength: its math result is 27%, versus 40% statewide. Free/reduced-lunch figures are unavailable, and some grade-level scores are suppressed.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				AASA English Language Arts (2026)								AASA Mathematics (2026)								Per Pupil Expenditures (2022)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Directly certified (2024-25)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	AASA English Language Arts 3rd Grade	AASA English Language Arts 4th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 5th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 6th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 7th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 8th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 11th Grade	AASA English Language Arts All Grades	AASA Mathematics 3rd Grade	AASA Mathematics 4th Grade	AASA Mathematics 5th Grade	AASA Mathematics 6th Grade	AASA Mathematics 7th Grade	AASA Mathematics 8th Grade	AASA Mathematics 11th Grade	AASA Mathematics All Grades	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel Spending from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel Spending from Federal Funds	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Personnel Spending from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Sub-total Spending from State and Local Funds
Verrado High School	Public	9-12	20050 W Indian School Rd	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	Agua Fria Union High School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 932-7400	2,012	93	21.7	18.6%	726 (36.1%)	139 (6.9%)	987 (49.1%)	33 (1.6%)	15 (0.7%)	3 (0.1%)	109 (5.4%)	53.6	105^th of 256 public high schools	59.0%		38.5	151^st of 271 public high schools	44.3%	46							44.0	44.0							37.0	37.0	$7,166	$73	$195	$341	$6,073	$825	$6,898
West-MEC - Verrado High School	Public	9-12	20050 W Indian School Rd	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	West-MEC - Western Maricopa Education Center	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 932-7400	1			—	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)																		$00			$00
The Odyssey Preparatory Academy - Sienna Hills	Public, Charter	K-5	2400 N Sienna Hills Pkwy	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	The Odyssey Preparatory Academy Inc.	Yes	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 444-9654	472	29	16.2	—	147 (31.1%)	26 (5.5%)	248 (52.5%)	7 (1.5%)	6 (1.3%)	3 (0.6%)	35 (7.4%)	43.6	438^th of 900 public elementary schools	51.3%		52.6	371^st of 909 public elementary schools	59.2%	67	34.0	42.0	51.0					43.0	39.0	27.0	53.0					40.0	$6,127	$438	$286	$1,161	$3,769	$1,634	$5,404
Tartesso Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	29677 W Indianola Ave	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	Saddle Mountain Unified School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 474-5400	340	19	18.3	36.5%	99 (29.1%)	27 (7.9%)	195 (57.4%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	14 (4.1%)	26.1	605^th of 900 public elementary schools	32.8%		34.7	517^th of 909 public elementary schools	43.1%	88	33.0	31.0	35.0					33.0	35.0	24.0	35.0					31.0	$8,544	$364	$91	$819	$6,329	$1,759	$8,089
Desert Sunset Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	30919 W. White Tanks Vista Dr	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	Saddle Mountain Unified School District	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(623) 474-5601	648	28	23.1	37.7%	158 (24.4%)	66 (10.2%)	380 (58.6%)	2 (0.3%)	8 (1.2%)	5 (0.8%)	29 (4.5%)	23	652^nd of 900 public elementary schools	27.6%		25	623^rd of 909 public elementary schools	31.5%	29	28.0	40.0	30.0					33.0	19.0	40.0	24.0					28.0
Festival Foothills Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	26252 W. Desert Vista Blvd.	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	Wickenburg Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(928) 501-6000	262	12	22.2	28.2%	120 (45.8%)	27 (10.3%)	88 (33.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	4 (1.5%)	21 (8.0%)								(n/a)								32.0	41.0							21.0	$5,487	$296	$590	$1,182	$4,443	$158	$4,601

Cities Near Zip Code 85396

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Litchfield Park	1 mi	12	35^th
Buckeye	1.25 mi	40	69^th
Goodyear	1.9 mi	30	30^th
Waddell	3.97 mi	5	29^th
Avondale	7.4 mi	36	84^th

See the top AZ Arizona cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Arizona Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.