Peoria Unified School District

Peoria Unified celebrates the release of school letter grades for its 42 graded schools, with 95 percent, or 40 schools, receiving an A or B label. This means that Peoria Unified is once again an A-Rated School District! Thirteen Peoria Unified schools increased their grade by one letter and 28 increased their earned percentage points.

All eight of Peoria Unified’s high schools are A-rated, and these academic accolades are supported by championship athletics, award-winning arts education and nationally recognized career and technical education programs.

Peoria Traditional, an elementary school of choice in North Peoria, is the highest-ranking school in the district with a rating of 102.36, surpassing the top of the state-provided 100-point scale. Another notable growth score is at Desert Palms Elementary School, a K-8 school located in Glendale, which increased their score by 18.62 points moving from a C to a B-labeled school. At the high school level, Peoria Flex Academy saw a gain of 13.72 points moving from a B to an A-label.  15 Peoria Unified schools saw a growth score of more than five points.

These results can be attributed to the district’s dedicated and talented teachers, the hard work of our learners, supportive parents and community members, and the newly adopted math and science curriculum that was implemented in every classroom. The district implemented a new learning management software, Canvas, which increases transparency of student academic progress for parents, improves sophistication of learning and teaching and allows students greater opportunities for accessing learning and collaborating with their peers.

To ensure that these gains continue, the district recently launched a new literacy and math assessment called Star which allows for more classroom instruction and less time spent on assessment. Additionally, the district remains committed to providing teachers robust professional development opportunities which allows them to provide effective instruction to meet the needs of every learner. This investment in professional development also ensures that the district retains a higher portion of its expert teachers. The district maintains a certified turnover rate of 13 percent which is well below the state average. 

A complete list of district letter grades is here:

The letter grade system for accountability is determined by the Arizona Department of Education and measures year to year student academic growth, proficiency on English language arts, math and science, the proficiency and academic growth of English language learners, indicators that an elementary student is ready for success in high school and that high school students are ready to succeed in a career or higher education and high school graduation rates. While test scores are important measures of student achievement, they are not the only way to measure strong schools. One of the greatest measures of success is what students do when they leave Peoria Unified.