Desert Canyons Elementary

Desert Canyons Elementary is a K–5 school in Saint George, Utah, serving 670 students in the Washington District. It is one of the larger traditional elementary schools in its local comparison group, with nearby schools generally about 3.7 to 7.3 miles away. The school ranked 135th of 563 Utah elementary schools in 2025–2026, placing it at the 76th percentile with a four-star rating. That is an improvement from 163rd and the 71st percentile two years earlier, suggesting meaningful upward movement.

Academically, Desert Canyons is strongest in science and in third- and fourth-grade math. In 2025–2026, math proficiency was 65.8% in third grade, 63.8% in fourth grade, and 48.7% in fifth grade—above both district and state rates in every tested grade. Science was particularly strong, with 65.4% proficiency in fourth grade and 65.8% in fifth grade. English language arts was also above district and state rates in third and fourth grade, but fifth-grade ELA fell to 46.5%, slightly below the district rate. Overall, science is the school’s strongest subject, followed by math, while fifth-grade math and literacy are the clearest areas for improvement.

Compared with nearby schools, Desert Canyons sits in the upper-middle range. It trails leading schools such as Crimson View School, Horizon School, Riverside School, and South Mesa Elementary, but ranks ahead of Heritage School and Bloomington Hills School. Chronic absenteeism improved substantially to 22.4%, down from 34.8% in 2021–2022, though it remains above the district’s 15.4% rate. The 20.6:1 student-teacher ratio is typical locally, and the school’s recent progress is encouraging while continued attention to attendance and fifth-grade instruction would be valuable.