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More than half of the schools in the Gilbert Public Schools district received an A from the Arizona Board of Education for 2022-23.
The district had 23 schools with A’s, 12 with B’s and three with C’s. Alternative school Canyon Valley is not graded.
The latest grades, which the board released Oct. 30, shows improvement for the district from the 2021-22 grades as the district increased its total of schools receiving A’s by two and decreased its total having C’s by two.
In 2021-22, three of the junior high schools had C’s, but Desert Ridge and Highland improved to B’s in the latest grades. Boulder Creek Elementary also went from a C to a B as did Playa del Rey Elementary.
However, GPS Global Academy, the district’s online school, fell from a B to a C and Quartz Hill Elementary went from an A to C.
New to the A ranks this year were Burk, Greenfield, Harris, Patterson, Pioneer, Settler’s Point and Towne Meadows elementary schools.
Overall, 11 schools improved their grades and the 19 elementary schools getting A’s were the most the district had ever received at that level.
“We recognize the ‘Letter Grade’ system as a useful measure of academic progress and achievement providing opportunities for celebration and also for continued improvement,” Superintendent Shane McCord said in a statement. “Our hard-working and dedicated staff will use these grades to review, refine and improve. Campus teams will continue to critically analyze the data and will work with strategies and district-wide instructional programs to initiate improvements that will directly benefit our students.”
McCord said schools will be reaching out directly to their communities to share successes, celebrations and strategies for continued improvement and growth.
The formula that determines school labels uses a wide range of academic measures, including results from the state-mandated assessment and academic growth .
Elementary schools
Grade
Score (A: 84-100; B: 72-83.99)
Ashland
A
92.78
Augusta Ranch
B
80.93
Boulder Creek
B
78.8
Burk
A
85.59
Canyon Rim
A
97.47
Carol Rae Ranch
A
88.98
Finley Farms
A
93.9
Gilbert
B
76.11
Greenfield
A
96.22
Harris
A
84.43
Highland Park
A
97.02
Islands
A
93.13
Meridian
A
88.04
Mesquite
A
86.33
Neely Traditional Academy
A
94.16
Oak Tree
B
74.34
Patterson
A
88.83
Pioneer
A
87.62
Playa del Rey
B
81.84
Quartz Hill
C
71.51
Settler’s Point
A
86.91
Sonoma Ranch
A
90.92
Spectrum
A
94.72
Superstition Springs
A
90.07
Towne Meadows
A
94.13
Val Vista Lakes
B
81.35
Junior high schools
Grade
Score (A: 84-100; B: 72-83.99)
Desert Ridge
B
72.66
Greenfield
B
83
Highland
B
83.58
Mesquite
C
66.96
South Valley
A
91.46
High schools
Grade
Score (A: 82-100; B: 65-81.99)
Campo Verde
A
90.2
Desert Ridge
B
66.43
Highland
A
86.08
Mesquite
B
72.3
Hybrid
Grade
Score (A: 82-100; B: 65-81.99)
Gilbert Classical Academy
A
99.34
Gilbert High School
B
81
GPS Global Academy
C
57.24
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Raised in Arizona, Tom Blodgett has spent more than 35 years in journalism in Arizona and joined Independent Newsmedia in July 2022 to launch the Gilbert edition. He is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication from 2005-19 and remains editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet.
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