All but one Queen Creek Unified school earns an A as Arizona posts its last grades under the old formula

Fourteen of the 15 Queen Creek Unified School District campuses listed in Arizona's new school letter grades earned an A, according to the 2025-26 results the Arizona State Board of Education released Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The only exception was Queen Creek Virtual Academy, which received a C, based on the statewide school-by-school list ABC15 compiled from the release.

District schools rated A include Queen Creek High, Crismon High, Eastmark High, Queen Creek Junior High, Newell Barney College Preparatory and every listed elementary school, among them Desert Mountain, Jack Barnes, Katherine Mecham Barney, Schnepf, Faith Mather Sossaman, Frances Brandon-Pickett, Queen Creek Elementary, Silver Valley and Gateway Polytechnic Academy. ABC15 ranked Newell Barney fifth among Arizona's top schools.

Neighboring districts and charters

Results were more varied in the J.O. Combs Unified School District. Combs High and Jack Harmon Elementary earned A's, Kathryn Sue Simonton Elementary and Combs Traditional Academy got B's, Ellsworth Elementary, Ranch Elementary and J.O. Combs Middle School received C's, and Combs Online School for Success got a D.

Other districts' Queen Creek campuses also scored well. Higley Unified's Cortina Elementary and Sossaman Middle earned A's. In Chandler Unified, Dr. Camille Casteel High and Willie & Coy Payne Jr. High got A's and Dr. Gary and Annette Auxier Elementary a B. Florence Unified's San Tan Foothills High received a B.

Among Queen Creek charter schools, American Leadership Academy's Queen Creek K-12 and Signal Butte K-6 campuses, Legacy Traditional School - Queen Creek, Eduprize, Heritage Academy Gateway and Benjamin Franklin High earned A's. Benjamin Franklin Charter School - Crismon received a B and Leading Edge Academy Mountain View a C.

Statewide picture and what changes

Statewide, 719 of the roughly 1,700 graded district and charter schools earned an A, 668 a B and 256 a C, while 48 received a D or F and eight were not rated, likely because of pending appeals, according to the ABC15 data.

This is the final year the state will use its current grading formula. After an Arizona Auditor General report in July found the system does not accurately communicate how schools perform, the State Board voted to raise the standards needed for each grade and to drop bonus points.

The tougher standards apply starting with the 2026-27 school year, with the first grades under the revised system due in October 2027. Sean Smith, chief accountability officer at the Arizona Department of Education, told KTAR that fewer A and B grades are expected after the changes.

Families can look up any school's grade and the data behind it on the state's Arizona School Report Cards site.

Sources

abc15.com

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kold.com

ktar.com