Best Middle Schools in Arizona

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Find the best Arizona middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Arizona test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the AASA and AzSCI test scores by the Arizona Department of Education. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

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NOTE: 2024 rankings for Arizona schools were revised on November 25^th after the AZ Department of Education's recent release of the 2024 AzSci scores.

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2022)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 550)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
040775003688	71	Union Park School	Public	PK, KG-8	25700 N 21st Ave	Phoenix	85085	Maricopa County	Deer Valley Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 445-5800	788	51	15.4		507 (64.3%)	17 (2.2%)	159 (20.2%)	51 (6.5%)	7 (0.9%)	1 (0.1%)	46 (5.8%)	$6,582	$309	$36	$654	$6,087	$150	$6,237	83.2	93.2	40	31
040187002478	72	Willie & Coy Payne Junior High	Public	7-8	7655 S Higley Rd	Queen Creek	85142	Maricopa County	Chandler Unified District #80	No	(n/a)	No	No	(480) 224-2400	1,127	58	19.3		740 (65.7%)	44 (3.9%)	222 (19.7%)	34 (3.0%)	12 (1.1%)	2 (0.2%)	73 (6.5%)	$6,644	$426	$65	$918	$6,016	$136	$6,152	82.7	83.5	102	30
040775001503	73	Hillcrest Middle School	Public	7-8	22833 N 71st Ave	Glendale	85310	Maricopa County	Deer Valley Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 445-3300	853	41	20.8		629 (73.7%)	12 (1.4%)	140 (16.4%)	25 (2.9%)	6 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	39 (4.6%)	$5,381	$507	$03	$1,017	$4,633	$237	$4,870	82.6	93.6	38	35
040237000165	74	Oak Creek Elementary School	Public	K-8	11490 Purple Sage	Cornville	86325	Yavapai County	Cottonwood-Oak Creek Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(928) 639-5109	234	13	18.7		146 (62.4%)	0 (0.0%)	82 (35.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.1%)	$8,026	$985	$466	$2,436	$5,938	$638	$6,575	82.2	35.5	493	419
040775001873	75	Highland Lakes School	Public	PK, KG-8	19000 N 63rd Ave	Glendale	85308	Maricopa County	Deer Valley Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 376-4300	1,065	64	16.6		697 (65.4%)	29 (2.7%)	187 (17.6%)	52 (4.9%)	9 (0.8%)	7 (0.7%)	84 (7.9%)	$7,294	$615	$11	$1,240	$6,431	$238	$6,669	81.9	89	67	8
040593001230	76	Explorer Middle School	Public	7-8	22401 N 40th St	Phoenix	85050	Maricopa County	Paradise Valley Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(602) 449-4200	641	30	21.2		519 (81.0%)	8 (1.2%)	61 (9.5%)	23 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	29 (4.5%)	$6,002	$187	$138	$512	$5,487	$190	$5,677	81.9	87.5	75	1
040463003588	77	Dove Mountain K-8	Public	PK, KG-8	5650 W Moore Rd	Marana	85658	Pima County	Marana Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(520) 579-4500	938	51	18.3		504 (53.7%)	15 (1.6%)	351 (37.4%)	13 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (5.9%)	$9,310	$629	$148	$1,406	$7,047	$1,486	$8,533	81.9	84	101	24
040757001562	78	Mountainside Middle School	Public	6-8	11256 N 128th St	Scottsdale	85259	Maricopa County	Scottsdale Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(480) 484-5500	545	33	16.4		399 (73.2%)	18 (3.3%)	66 (12.1%)	41 (7.5%)	7 (1.3%)	3 (0.6%)	11 (2.0%)	$7,591	$71	$438	$579	$6,525	$557	$7,082	81.3	79.9	127	49
040340002432	79	South Valley Junior High	Public	7-8	2034 S Lindsay Rd	Gilbert	85295	Maricopa County	Gilbert Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(480) 855-0015	816	42	19.2		483 (59.2%)	39 (4.8%)	200 (24.5%)	29 (3.6%)	7 (0.9%)	2 (0.2%)	56 (6.9%)	$6,311	$70	$463	$604	$6,025		$5,778	81.2	86	85	6
040315000245	80	Colonel Smith Middle School	Public	PK, KG-8	67601 Cushing	Fort Huachuca	85613	Cochise County	Fort Huachuca Accommodation District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(520) 459-8892	240	19	12.5		117 (48.8%)	27 (11.3%)	71 (29.6%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	23 (9.6%)	$14,902	$7,527	$688	$15,741	$5,058	$1,629	$6,687	81.2	85.6	90	10

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Arizona

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for AZ student subgroups:

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on AASA English Language Arts, AASA Mathematics, AzSCI Science test scores released by the Arizona Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on September 25, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Arizona Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Arizona Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Arizona Department of Education.