Report cards are in. And both Patagonia public schools and Sonoita Elementary School have garnered improved grades as awarded by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE).
Patagonia High School earned an “A,” up from last year’s “B.” Patagonia Elementary improved to “B” from a previous “C.” Sonoita Elementary, located in Elgin, went from a “B” to “A.” Patagonia Montessori Elementary School, a K-8 charter school, received a “C,” having not received a grade for the 2023-24 school year. (Private schools do not receive a report card and are largely independent from government accountability.)
“We are very excited about our academic achievement from last year and [our most recent] letter grade,” said Dan Erickson, superintendent/principal of the Sonoita School District. He credits a focus on improving the school culture by embracing a philosophy laid out in “Row the Boat” by P.J. Fleck and Jon Gordon. The book’s philosophy of “energy,” “sacrifice” and “compass” has been embraced by faculty, staff and students.
“The oar represents the energy,”
Erickson said. “How much energy are you putting in as you are rowing? The boat represents the sacrifice. The more you give and serve others, the more your sacrifice, the bigger your boat gets, the more people you can take with you. And direction is the compass, the compass points you toward your true north, which is where you want to go.
“When everyone buys into those things, and the culture and climate improves, the kids feel that,” he said.
Over in Patagonia, Kenny Hayes, who heads up Patagonia Elementary and Patagonia Union High School, believes a continued focus on data-driven instruction is key to success for both students and teachers.
“Honestly, we didn’t make a lot of changes,” said Hayes, who was promoted from teacher to superintendent/principal six years ago. The focus, he said, has been on achieving 80% proficiency in benchmark testing and formative assessment. Benchmark testing assesses students through the year to measure their progress toward grade-level standards and goals. Formative assessment happens during a lesson to adjust immediate instruction.
Every spring, Arizona students take different tests based on their grade level. Grades 3-8 take Arizona’s Academic Standard test, which assesses English and math. Grades 5, 8 and 11 take the Arizona Science Test, which measures student progress toward achievement on standards adopted by the Board of Education in 2018.
High school juniors take the American College Test (ACT), which assesses knowledge in English, math, reading and science, with an optional writing test. Freshmen take ACT Aspire, which assesses strengths and weaknesses in English, math, reading and science. It is designed to help students and parents track progress toward college and career readiness.
Independent of those tests is the College and Career Readiness Index that is administered to high school seniors. This is the self-reporting tool Hayes sees as a measure of preparedness for life after graduation.
While Erickson and Hayes agree that the report card system has merit, they also believe things go on in schools that the system doesn’t measure and yet lead to success. That would include involvement in extracurricular activities.
“The more involved they are, the more they’re around their peers” helps with student achievement, Hayes said. That can include participation in sports and/or clubs, which provides a sense of community that serves to motivate.
Erickson is of the same mind. A school “cannot only be about reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said. “There’s got to be some things that bring joy to what the kids are doing beyond the core academics.” In addition to sports, the school hosts a Veterans Day event complete with patriotic songs and local veterans invited in for brunch. The school’s CIMI Club (Catalina Island Marine Institute) raises money throughout the year to send 8th graders to a science-based field trip on Catalina Island.
Of the state’s 1,359 traditional K-8 schools, 469 were awarded an “A,” 539 got a “B,” 282 received a “C,” 41 got a “D” and nine got an “F.” Twenty-two schools were unrated due to insufficient data.
In Santa Cruz County, four K-8 schools received an “A,” 11 got a “B,” five received a “C” and one got an “F.”
Of the state’s 231 traditional high schools, 117 got an “A,” 94 received a “B,” 16 earned a “C” and one got a “D”. Two schools were unrated.
Among Santa Cruz County high schools, Nogales and Patagonia earned an “A” and Rio Rico received a “B.”