Summary:
The city of Sanders, Arizona is home to three public schools serving students from elementary through high school: Sanders Elementary School, Valley High School, and Sanders Middle School. Unfortunately, the data reveals that these schools are consistently underperforming compared to state averages across a range of key metrics.
None of the three schools in the Sanders Unified District can be considered standouts. Sanders Elementary School has alarmingly low proficiency rates in English Language Arts (11-24%) and Math (9-14%), well below the state averages. Valley High School has a 4-year graduation rate of 84.5%, lower than the state average, and a dropout rate of 6.3%, which is higher than desired. Sanders Middle School has extremely low proficiency rates in Science (7%), ELA (13-19%), and Math (2-3%), ranking in the bottom 10-20% of Arizona middle schools.
The schools in Sanders face significant challenges, including very high poverty levels, with 81.8% to 87.4% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Additionally, the student populations are overwhelmingly Native American, with minimal racial/ethnic diversity. Despite the high per-student spending, ranging from $20,476 to $24,040, the schools are not seeing commensurate improvements in academic outcomes, suggesting a need for more targeted, evidence-based interventions to address the root causes of the district's struggles.
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