Summary:
ZIP code 85747 has nine schools in the Vail Unified District: four elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools, including schools that serve multiple grade levels. The supplied 2025–2026 all-grades results show an area-wide advantage over Arizona, though scores vary by school: the equal-school averages are 60% in ELA and 53% in math, compared with 41% and 33% statewide. The most important finding is that every reported all-grades ELA and math result is above its state figure.
Empire High School leads the two traditional high schools on all three reported 11th-grade subjects: it scores 68% in ELA and 60% in math, ahead of Mica Mountain High by 15 and 14 percentage points; its science score is 47%, 19 points higher. Esmond Station School stands out in elementary and middle grades, leading in 3rd-grade ELA and math at 62% each, 5th-grade math at 74%, and 7th-grade ELA at 72%. Vail Blended Learning has the highest all-grades math score, 67%, and leads in 8th-grade math at 75%. Results also vary within schools: Civano Community K-8 School has the lowest all-grades math score at 42% but the highest reported 8th-grade science score at 73%. Desert Willow Elementary School has the lowest all-grades ELA score, 52%.
SchoolDigger ranking percentiles show mixed movement rather than a consistent area-wide trend: from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026, Empire fell from 92 to 89 and Mica Mountain from 76 to 73, while Desert Willow rose from 65 to 70. These are SchoolDigger rankings, not test-score trends, and the supplied ranking history covers different schools and years. Comparisons within similar-sized schools also show why families may want to look at specific grades: Desert Sky Middle School and Rincon Vista Middle School enroll 743 and 712 students, yet their 7th-grade math scores differ by 20 points, at 50% and 30%. Reported student-teacher ratios range from 12.1 at Civano to 141.1 at Vail Blended Learning; those figures alone do not explain score differences.
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