Summary
Desert Hills Middle in Saint George, Utah, serves 909 students in grades 8–9 and is part of the Washington District, a mid-ranked Utah district serving the local Saint George area. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 24.1 and a relatively low free/reduced-price lunch rate of 16.17%. Its 2024–25 chronic absenteeism rate was 13.4%, better than the district’s 15.4% and Utah’s 23.8%. Attendance is a notable strength: Desert Hills also had lower absenteeism than nearby Crimson Cliffs Middle, Pine View Middle, and Dixie Middle.
Academically, Desert Hills performs above Utah and generally above the district. In 2025–26, proficiency ranged from 45.5% in Grade 9 math to 68.6% in Grade 9 science. Science is the school’s strongest and most consistent subject, followed by English language arts: Grade 8 science reached 65.8%, Grade 9 ELA 64.9%, and Grade 8 ELA 61.3%. The main area for improvement is mathematics. Grade 8 math has declined from 60.6% in 2022–23 to 52.4%, while Grade 9 math was 45.5%, slightly below the district’s 47.7% but still above Utah’s 39.4%. Families may want to ask how the school supports students in math, particularly during the transition through Grade 9.
Among nearby schools, Desert Hills occupies a middle-to-upper position. It substantially outperforms Pine View and Dixie in every reported subject, while Crimson Cliffs is a much stronger academic benchmark, especially in math: its Grade 8 and Grade 9 math proficiency rates were 81.7% and 77.0%, compared with Desert Hills’ 52.4% and 45.5%. Desert Hills’ lower lunch rate than Pine View’s 42.23% and Dixie’s 33.41% provides useful context, but Crimson Cliffs’ even lower rate and higher achievement show that student background does not explain every performance difference. Overall, Desert Hills offers solid achievement, particularly in science and ELA, unusually favorable attendance, and a clear opportunity to improve math.
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