PHOENIX — Arizona’s school letter grades are calculated differently based on the type of school.
For traditional K through 8 schools, grading focuses on growth and proficiency. For traditional high schools, the focus shifts to proficiency and college readiness. Alternative high schools give more weight to career readiness and student retention.
This year, the Department of Education released letter grades at the district level as well. The data also includes several individual charter schools that are, for reporting purposes, considered a district.
We analyzed the data for districts with more than three schools and found 55% of them received a “B” grade. The next largest grouping, 28 districts, received a “C” grade, while a little under one in five scored an “A” grade. Three districts were given a “D” letter grade.
School districts in the Valley fare better than elsewhere in the state. More than one in four districts here received an “A” grade. About 53% got a “B”, and 19% a “C”.
In Pima County, there were more “Bs” and “Cs”. Districts in the rural counties were more likely to be given a “C” grade. Under half of the rural districts received a “B” and 14%, the lowest of the three localities, received an “A”.
Despite this, many rural districts were the most improved from last year. Joseph City and Fort Thomas Unified school districts in northern Arizona moved up two letter grades from “D” to “B” in the last school year. Buckeye Union High School was the Valley district with the most improvement, shifting from a “C” to an “A”. These districts were joined by Cottonwood Elementary District and Champion Schools, a charter school district in the valley as the top five most improving districts.
Two Valley districts, the Murphy and Pendergast elementary districts, were on the list of districts with the biggest decline in their letter grades.
Maricopa and Pima counties dominate the list of districts with the highest letter grades. Vail Unified in Pima was the only district in the state with all schools receiving an “A”. Litchfield Elementary School District was the district in the Valley with the highest overall letter grade.
Four of the districts with the lowest letter grades in the state are found on or near tribal lands. They were also joined by the Murphy and Camp Verde school districts.
The data for Arizona’s letter grades can be found here.
