Summary:
ZIP code 85747 has two middle schools, both serving grades 6–8 in Vail Unified District. Together, Desert Sky Middle School and Rincon Vista Middle School average 62% proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) and 46% in mathematics. Those averages are 21 and 13 percentage points above state rates, respectively; compared with district rates, the schools average 2 points higher in ELA but 9 points lower in math. The most important shared finding is that ELA is the stronger relative result: the schools’ average margin over the state is 8 points larger in ELA than in math.
The schools trade leads by subject, with no single school at the top across the board. Rincon Vista leads all-grades ELA at 64%, 4 points ahead of Desert Sky at 60%; both are well above the state’s 41%. In math, Desert Sky leads 48% to 44%, while both exceed the state’s 33%. The biggest grade-level difference is in seventh-grade math: Desert Sky’s 50% is 20 points above Rincon Vista’s 30%; Rincon is 14 points below the district’s 44% rate. Eighth-grade science results are nearly even—50% at Rincon Vista and 49% at Desert Sky—and both exceed the state’s 30% but trail the district’s 54%.
SchoolDigger rankings improved from the prior year, though the latest percentiles returned to their 2023–24 levels. Desert Sky moved from 106th to 93rd of 536 Arizona middle schools, and Rincon Vista from 126th to 104th; both have four stars, with Desert Sky at the 83rd percentile and Rincon Vista at the 81st. Enrollment and student-teacher ratios are also similar: 743 students and 20.3:1 at Desert Sky, compared with 712 and 20.5:1 at Rincon Vista. These figures do not point to an obvious overall choice; families may want to weigh the subject and grade-level results that matter most to them. Free/reduced-lunch rates are not available, and the ranking history does not show whether test proficiency changed over time.
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