Arizona Schools – Quick Facts
Demographics w Academic Performance w Public & Private Overview
The Arizona Education Network is working to provide factual, relevant and easy-to-understand statistical data as it pertains to our state schools.
We currently provide contact information for all of Arizona’s public K-12 school districts, charter schools, colleges and universities – simply click on our drop down menu to view each category.
Arizona Education Demographics
Arizona Population = 6,500,180 (US Census estimate, 2008)
Number of children in Arizona K-12 public schools = 1,044,785
This is roughly 16% of our total state population.
Number of children in ‘traditional’ K-12 schools – 951,117 (85%)
Number of children in public charter K-12 schools – 93,668 (8%)
Number of children in private K-12 schools – 54,038 (5%)
Number of children homeschooled – 20,000/est. (2%)
Arizona is home to 1,983 public schools, including:
§ 1,413 Elementary & Middle Schools (K-8)
§ 385 High Schools
§ 185 Combined Schools (all grades)
Traditional & Charter Public Schools – Academic Performance
In 2008, Arizona was home to 1,480 ‘traditional’ K-12, 477 charter and 26 special accommodation public schools.
The Arizona Department of Education uses the ‘AZ Learns’ scale to rank each public school’s academic performance. The following summaries of the AZ Learns accountability scale were obtained from the Department of Education website:
Excelling - Meets or exceeds state performance and state progress goals and has the requisite percentage of students in the “Exceeding the Standard” category on AIMS (Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards) test. School performance was at or above the state baseline and/or the school made adequate growth during the past three years. Additionally, the school met the performance threshold required for Excelling schools with a certain percentage of their students exceeding the standard on the AIMS test over the past three years.
328 Arizona public schools are ranked “Excelling”.
Number of Excelling K-12 ‘traditional’ public schools = 273………………. Number of Excelling K-12 charter schools = 55
19% of ‘traditional’ K-12 schools are excelling. ………………………………………… 12% of charter K-12 schools are excelling.
Highly Performing – Meets or exceeds state performance and state progress goals and has the requisite percentage of students “Exceeding the Standard” category on AIMS. School performance was at or above the state baseline and/or the school made adequate growth during the past three years. Additionally, the school met the performance threshold required for Highly Performing schools with a certain percentage of their students exceeding the standard category on the AIMS test over the past three years.
252 Arizona public schools are ranked “Highly Performing”
Number of Highly Performing ‘traditional’ public schools = 214 ……………Number of Highly Performing charter schools = 38
15% of ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools…………………………………………….. …….8% of charter K-12 schools
Performing Plus - Above state performance goals, however the number of students exceeding the standard on the AIMS test is not sufficient to earn a highly performing or excelling label.
392 Arizona public schools are ranked “Performing Plus”
Number of Performing Plus ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools = 301………Number of Performing Plus charter schools = 91
20% of ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools …………….…. ………… .………………. 19% of charter K-12 schools
Performing – meets state performance goals, and meets state progress goals. School receives total scale value placing it I the Performing classification. School performance was at or above the state baseline and/or the school made adequate growth during the past three years.
744 Arizona public schools were ranked “Performing” in 2007-2008.
Number of Performing ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools = 508…………… Number of Performing charter schools = 239
34% of ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools ………………………………………… ……. 50% of charter K-12 schools
Underperforming - Needs to meet state performance and state progress goals. School receives total scale value placing it in the Underperforming classification. School performance was below the state baseline and did not make adequate growth.
160 Arizona public schools were ranked “Underperforming” in 2007-2008.
Number of Underperforming ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools = 136……… Number of Underperforming charter schools = 24
9% of ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools ………………………………………………………...5% of K-12 charter schools
Failing to Meet Academic Standards - School performance has been designated as Underperforming for three consecutive years and a site review determined that the designation of Failing to Meet the Academic Standards was warranted.
20 Arizona public schools were listed as ‘Failing to Meet Academic Standards” in 2007-2008.
Number of Failing ‘traditional’ K-12 public schools = 19……………………. Number of Failing charter schools = 1
1% of ‘traditional’ K-12 schools…………………………………………………………………..>1% of K-12 charter schools
No AZ LEARNS ranking – New schools and schools which did not supply sufficient data for the AZ LEARNS ranking.
85 Arizona public schools did not receive an AZ LEARNS designation in 2007-2008
Number of ‘traditional’public schools with no AZ LEARNS ranking= 31 …….Number of charters schools with no AZ LEARNS ranking = 29
2% of ‘traditional’ K-12 public school were not ranked. …………………………… 6% of charter schools were not ranked.
Connect With Us