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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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)
040438002431	171	Verrado Middle School	Public	5-8	20880 W Main St	Buckeye	85396	Maricopa County	Litchfield Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 547-1300	719	35	20.8		292 (40.6%)	34 (4.7%)	320 (44.5%)	21 (2.9%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	48 (6.7%)	$6,394	$159	$07	$325	$5,202	$1,026	$6,228	62.1	74.7	171
040039502305	172	Leading Edge Academy Gilbert Elementary	Public, Charter	K-8	459 N Gilbert Rd Ste D165	Gilbert	85234	Maricopa County	LEAD Charter Schools	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(480) 545-6646	303				128 (42.2%)	33 (10.9%)	107 (35.3%)	10 (3.3%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (7.3%)		$00			$00			61.8	59.3	273	101
040625001424	173	Oasis Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7841 W Sweetwater Ave	Peoria	85381	Maricopa County	Peoria Unified School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 412-4800	769	41	18.7		412 (53.6%)	34 (4.4%)	251 (32.6%)	32 (4.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (5.1%)	$7,830	$62	$290	$413	$6,938	$540	$7,478	61.4	81.7	110	63
040730002818	174	Anza Trail	Public	K-8	15490 South Rancho Sahuarita B	Sahuarita	85629	Pima County	Sahuarita Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(520) 625-3502	1,235	65	19		402 (32.6%)	31 (2.5%)	720 (58.3%)	11 (0.9%)	4 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	67 (5.4%)	$5,946	$57	$20	$134	$5,362	$507	$5,870	61.3	76.4	151	23
040775000622	175	Desert Mountain School	Public	PK, KG-8	35959 N 7th Ave	Desert Hills	85086	Maricopa County	Deer Valley Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 445-3500	425	29	14.9		322 (75.8%)	5 (1.2%)	75 (17.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	21 (4.9%)	$7,482	$263	$20	$546	$7,019	$179	$7,198	61.2	71.3	191	16
040432000343	176	Liberty Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	19818 W Us Highway 85	Buckeye	85326	Maricopa County	Liberty Elementary District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(623) 237-2810	415	22	18.8		172 (41.4%)	5 (1.2%)	222 (53.5%)	2 (0.5%)	2 (0.5%)	2 (0.5%)	10 (2.4%)	$8,035	$349	$340	$1,038	$5,728	$1,618	$7,346	61.2	56.2	291	115
040463002197	177	Twin Peaks Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7995 W Twin Peaks Rd	Tucson	85743	Pima County	Marana Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(520) 579-4750	954	60	15.8		509 (53.4%)	16 (1.7%)	364 (38.2%)	18 (1.9%)	4 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (4.5%)	$9,536	$669	$145	$1,482	$7,424	$1,299	$8,723	61.2	72.9	185	8
040011203179	178	American Leadership Academy Queen Creek K-12	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	23908 S Hawes Rd	Queen Creek	85142	Maricopa County	American Leadership Academy Inc.	Yes	(n/a)	No	No	(480) 420-2150	2,405				1,752 (72.8%)	51 (2.1%)	450 (18.7%)	20 (0.8%)	13 (0.5%)	11 (0.5%)	108 (4.5%)	$5,943	$169	$188	$525	$4,110	$1,477	$5,587	61	66.6	229	51
040003100689	179	Ridgeline Academy Inc.	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	33625 N North Valley Pkwy	Phoenix	85085	Maricopa County	Ridgeline Academy Inc.	Yes	(n/a)	No	No	(623) 223-1335	1,019				709 (69.6%)	32 (3.1%)	176 (17.3%)	29 (2.8%)	4 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	67 (6.6%)		$00			$00			60.9	71.9	187	8
040086703342	180	Ball Charter Schools (Val Vista)	Public, Charter	K-8	4120 S Val Vista Dr	Gilbert	85297	Maricopa County	Ball Charter Schools (Val Vista)	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(480) 656-5555	400				227 (56.8%)	28 (7.0%)	79 (19.8%)	20 (5.0%)	9 (2.3%)	5 (1.3%)	32 (8.0%)		$00			$00			60.9	89.5	61	119

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Arizona

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for AZ student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status Students

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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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