Desert Vista Elementary School

Summary:

Desert Vista Elementary School is a public elementary school in Apache Junction, Arizona, serving 536 students in grades PK-6. The school is part of the Apache Junction Unified District, which is ranked 242 out of 288 districts in the state and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Desert Vista Elementary consistently performs below the state and district averages in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency across all grade levels. For example, in 2023-2024, only 28% of 3rd graders, 24% of 4th graders, and 37% of 5th graders were proficient or better in ELA, compared to the state averages of 39%, 46%, and 38%, respectively. In Mathematics, the school's proficiency rates were also lower than the state and district, with only 32% of 3rd graders, 15% of 4th graders, and 24% of 5th graders scoring proficient or better. Compared to nearby schools like Meridian and Peralta Trail Elementary School, Desert Vista Elementary generally performs worse in both ELA and Mathematics.

The school also faces significant socioeconomic challenges, with 49.81% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch in the 2022-2023 school year, which is significantly higher than the state average and the nearby Meridian school, which had a 22.88% free and reduced lunch rate. Additionally, the school's spending per student has fluctuated over the years, ranging from $4,725 in 2019-2020 to $7,728 in 2018-2019, which is lower than the spending per student at nearby schools like Taft Elementary and Patterson Elementary in the Mesa Unified District.


Detail:

Public PK, KG-6

 3701 E Broadway Ave
       Apache Junction, AZ  85119-9301


(480) 677-7510

District: Apache Junction Unified District

SchoolDigger Rank:
715th of 904 Arizona Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $5,318 Help


Students who attend Desert Vista Elementary School usually attend:

Middle:    Cactus Canyon Junior High
High:    Apache Junction High School

Student/teacher ratio:  18.9 Help
Number of students:  536

Racial breakdown:

White:
59.0%
Hispanic:
33.4%
African American:
2.6%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  49.8% Help


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Performance Trends
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Compare Details Desert Vista Elementary School ranks worse than 79.1% of elementary schools in Arizona. It also ranks last among 3 ranked elementary schools in the Apache Junction Unified District. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 18.96. (See more...)
Student Body
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Compare Details Desert Vista Elementary School has the largest elementary school student body size in the Apache Junction Unified District. Racial makeup is: White (59%), Hispanic (33.4%), African American (2.6%). (See more...)
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Compare Details 49.8% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. This is the lowest percentage in the Apache Junction Unified District. (See more...)
Teachers
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Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Desert Vista Elementary School is 18.9, which is the lowest among 3 elementary schools in the Apache Junction Unified District! (See more...)
Help
Compare Desert Vista Elementary School employs 28.3 full-time teachers.
Finance
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Compare Details The average total spent per student at Desert Vista Elementary School is $5,318. 1 elementary schools in the Apache Junction Unified District spend more per student.
Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Desert Vista Elementary School:

SchoolDigger ranks Desert Vista Elementary School 715th of 904 Arizona public elementary schools. (See Desert Vista Elementary School in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Low Socio Economic Status students:
White students:


Apache Junction Unified District:

SchoolDigger ranks Apache Junction Unified District 242nd of 288 Arizona school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Rank History for Desert Vista Elementary School

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Rank History for all students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2009 51.60 514th 1062 51.6%
2010 54.35 488th 1090 55.2%
2011 55.80 465th 1075 56.7%
2012 53.61 525th 1141 54.0%
2013 55.31 512th 1158 55.8%
2014 38.07 684th 1079 36.6%
2015 22.23 735th 955 23.0%
2016 36.74 637th 1079 41.0%
2017 38.82 631st 1106 42.9%
2018 34.26 693rd 1109 37.5%
2019 24.39 759th 1039 26.9%
2021 27.76 831st 1226 32.2%
2022 15.43 835th 1000 16.5%
2023 26.53 875th 1245 29.7%
2024 18.96 715th 904 20.9%
See the entire list of Arizona Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 44.87 535th 1027 47.9%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 39.29 545th 975 44.1%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 36.55 248th 417 40.5%
2021 42.85 575th 1201 52.1%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 36.22 531st 820 35.2%
2023 32.31 767th 1116 31.3%
2024 26.37 406th 546 25.6%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Homeless students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 32.13 296th 423 30.0%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Homeless Students!

Rank History for Female students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 30.83 693rd 1023 32.3%
2019 22.25 664th 862 23.0%
2021 31.27 797th 1219 34.6%
2022 10.86 775th 824 5.9%
2023 22.18 958th 1219 21.4%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 34.50 639th 1032 38.1%
2019 16.76 722nd 850 15.1%
2021 26.72 867th 1220 28.9%
2023 29.78 810th 1216 33.4%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for African American students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 37.66 531st 895 40.7%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 27.33 689th 911 24.4%
2019 27.31 516th 709 27.2%
2021 33.26 764th 1198 36.2%
2023 18.75 1028th 1170 12.1%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for Native American students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 36.92 394th 654 39.8%
2023 85.13 26th 219 88.1%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Native American Students!

Rank History for Pacific Islander students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 91.35 4th 171 97.7%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for Pacific Islander Students!

Rank History for White students at Desert Vista Elementary School

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools AZ State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 17.24 634th 720 11.9%
2019 3.65 588th 595 1.2%
2021 20.58 1023rd 1161 11.9%
2022 3.77 789th 800 1.4%
2023 14.85 945th 1024 7.7%
2024 3.71 469th 477 1.7%
See the entire list of Best Arizona Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Arizona Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Desert Vista Elementary School Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 





Data source: Arizona Department of Education

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Enrollment information for Desert Vista Elementary School

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Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
1990 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 778 778
1991 763 7 6 54 7 n/a n/a -47 790
1992 711 6 6 55 6 n/a n/a 0 784
1993 694 1 6 76 11 n/a n/a 0 788
1994 740 1 4 74 10 n/a n/a 0 829
1995 784 2 7 75 6 n/a n/a 0 874
1996 784 2 7 75 6 n/a n/a 0 874
1997 810 3 7 94 12 n/a n/a 0 926
1998 669 4 10 70 10 n/a n/a 0 763
1999 675 9 11 69 11 n/a n/a 0 775
2000 617 9 11 83 10 n/a n/a 0 730
2001 598 13 11 99 14 n/a n/a 0 735
2002 629 15 11 95 10 n/a n/a 0 760
2003 629 15 11 95 10 n/a n/a 0 760
2004 591 17 6 113 3 n/a n/a 0 730
2005 572 15 5 121 2 n/a n/a 0 715
2006 535 19 2 124 3 n/a n/a 0 683
2007 495 14 3 145 3 n/a n/a 0 660
2008 436 17 4 133 9 n/a n/a 0 599
2009 446 12 6 111 9 n/a n/a 0 584
2010 411 13 6 116 7 n/a n/a 0 553
2011 444 17 9 132 7 0 7 0 616
2012 448 17 4 149 3 0 20 0 641
2013 469 6 2 148 5 0 27 0 657
2014 456 6 5 169 7 1 17 0 661
2015 464 10 6 192 8 1 16 0 697
2016 493 10 3 245 7 2 25 0 785
2017 483 6 3 217 10 3 24 0 746
2018 456 10 2 208 5 7 26 0 714
2019 405 13 2 213 8 4 23 0 668
2020 380 4 1 204 11 4 29 0 633
2021 300 5 1 190 14 5 18 0 533
2022 356 7 2 198 10 4 21 0 598
2023 316 14 2 179 8 3 14 0 536

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Desert Vista Elementary School

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1990 778 31.0 25.0 n/a
1991 790 32.0 24.6 n/a
1992 784 33.0 23.7 n/a
1993 788 35.0 22.5 n/a
1994 829 38.5 21.5 n/a
1995 874 41.5 21.1 n/a
1996 874 41.5 21.1 n/a
1997 926 39.0 23.7 n/a
1998 763 33.0 23.1 n/a
1999 775 33.0 23.5 n/a
2000 730 35.0 20.9 n/a
2001 735 34.0 21.6 n/a
2002 760 34.5 22.0 n/a
2003 760 34.5 22.0 n/a
2004 730 34.5 21.2 49
2005 715 35.0 20.4 43.6
2006 683 34.5 19.8 49
2007 660 36.0 18.3 47.1
2008 599 34.0 17.6 46.9
2009 584 34.0 17.2 48.8
2010 553 33.0 16.7 54.8
2011 616 32.0 19.2 60.9
2012 641 34.1 18.7 60.5
2013 657 36.3 18.0 63.9
2014 661 33.4 19.7 62.5
2015 697 34.0 20.5 61.7
2016 785 39.0 20.1 70.8
2017 746 35.0 21.2 75.5
2018 714 36.8 19.3 64.8
2019 668 28.8 23.1 62.9
2020 633 33.3 18.9 65.7
2021 533 31.5 16.9 n/a
2022 598 29.0 20.6 28.9
2023 536 28.3 18.9 49.8

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Desert Vista Elementary School

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1990 778 31.0 25.0 n/a
1991 790 32.0 24.6 n/a
1992 784 33.0 23.7 n/a
1993 788 35.0 22.5 n/a
1994 829 38.5 21.5 n/a
1995 874 41.5 21.1 n/a
1996 874 41.5 21.1 n/a
1997 926 39.0 23.7 n/a
1998 763 33.0 23.1 n/a
1999 775 33.0 23.5 n/a
2000 730 35.0 20.9 n/a
2001 735 34.0 21.6 n/a
2002 760 34.5 22.0 n/a
2003 760 34.5 22.0 n/a
2004 730 34.5 21.2 49
2005 715 35.0 20.4 43.6
2006 683 34.5 19.8 49
2007 660 36.0 18.3 47.1
2008 599 34.0 17.6 46.9
2009 584 34.0 17.2 48.8
2010 553 33.0 16.7 54.8
2011 616 32.0 19.2 60.9
2012 641 34.1 18.7 60.5
2013 657 36.3 18.0 63.9
2014 661 33.4 19.7 62.5
2015 697 34.0 20.5 61.7
2016 785 39.0 20.1 70.8
2017 746 35.0 21.2 75.5
2018 714 36.8 19.3 64.8
2019 668 28.8 23.1 62.9
2020 633 33.3 18.9 65.7
2021 533 31.5 16.9 n/a
2022 598 29.0 20.6 28.9
2023 536 28.3 18.9 49.8

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Desert Vista Elementary School

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YearPersonnel Expenditures from Federal FundsNon-Personnel Expenditures from Federal FundsTotal Expenditures from Federal FundsPersonnel Expenditures from State and Local FundsNon-Personnel Expenditures from State and Local FundsTotal Expenditures from State and Local FundsTotal Expenditures Per Pupil (All Funds)
2019 $728 (9.4%) $156 (2.0%) $1,611 (20.8%) $5,812 (75.2%) $1,032 (13.4%) $6,844 (88.6%) $7,728
2020 $478 (10.1%) $401 (8.5%) $1,357 (28.7%) $4,113 (87.0%) n/a $3,846 (81.4%) $4,725
2021 $850 (14.7%) $352 (6.1%) $2,052 (35.6%) $4,776 (82.8%) n/a $4,567 (79.2%) $5,769
2022 $711 (13.4%) $04 (0.1%) $1,425 (26.8%) $4,500 (84.6%) $104 (2.0%) $4,603 (86.6%) $5,318

Data source: Arizona Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Desert Vista Elementary School

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 759th of 1039 Elementary schoolsRanks 875th of 1245 Elementary schools
 2.8%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students668536
 19.8%
African American1314
 7.7%
American Indian88
Asian22
Hispanic213179
 16%
Pacific Islander43
 25%
White405316
 22%
Two or More Races2314
 39.1%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients62.9%49.8%
 13.1%


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Frequently Asked Questions about Desert Vista Elementary School

In the 2022-23 school year, 536 students attended Desert Vista Elementary School.

Students who attend Desert Vista Elementary School usually go on to attend:

Middle : Cactus Canyon Junior High
High : Apache Junction High School

Students at Desert Vista Elementary School are 59% White, 33% Hispanic, 3% African American, 3% Two or more races, 1% American Indian.

Desert Vista Elementary School ranks in the bottom 20.9% of Arizona elementary schools.


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

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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