The Arizona Department of Education released letter grades for Arizona schools last month following the percentage results of the spring 2019 AzMerit test results.

While much of the letter grades are based on the standard test results for each school, other factors included are student academic growth from year-to-year, English language proficiency and growth, indicators that eighth graders are ready for high school or high schoolers are ready for college and, for high schools, graduation rates.

The Arizona State Board of Education legislation made changes this year, mandating that schools receive a letter grade for each of the five quantifi­able factors [listed above], as well as an overall grade. The board also allowed high schools to choose to use results from SAT or ACT scores rather than the AzMerit, if they wished. Verde Valley schools stuck with AzMerit scores.

Sedona Charter School

Sedona Charter School, a tuition-free Montessori for kindergarten through eighth grade, was the only school that received an “A” rating in the Verde Valley. In spring 2019, 63% of their third- to eighth-grade students passed the English Language Arts portion of the AzMerit, while 54% passed math. In addition, three students received perfect scores in math.

School director Alice Madar said while some students have received a perfect AzMerit math score in the past, three students receiving it in one year is unprecedented.

“We are very proud of the work our teachers and our students have done — they really earned this ranking,” Madar said. “We told the kids it was a really great accomplishment and it was through their hard work and taking the test seriously.”

Sedona Charter School is the oldest public charter still running in Arizona, having opened in fall 1995. As a Title 1 school, 40% of its students come from economically disad­vantaged households.

The last time the school received an “A” was 2013. In between then and now, Madar said the school received one “C” and the rest “B’s.” She credits the uptick on the school’s strong teaching teams, a good student to teacher ratio [15:1 or less], and the fact that the school has had 25 years to grow, with former teachers coming back to help out.

“We’re always looking for the strongest possible teaching candidates. And now we have two teaching residences on campus, and that really helps with being able to attract new teachers and retain teachers,” Madar said, speaking of the first tiny-home approved in Sedona and a historic cottage from the 1960s on their campus next to the public library.

Madar believes the individualized approach Sedona Charter School’s teachers apply towards each child has helped in the year-over-year academic growth factor of the school letter grade. The school received 46 out of 50 possible growth points. Growth points count for half of elementary schools’ total letter grades and 20% for the high school letter grades.

“We look at each student and we’re constantly striving to help them grow as much as possible. In a strange way, we don’t so much look at [growth] as a school-wide thing, but as a ‘how can we help each child,’ and that helps us get the ‘A,’” she said.

The 145 students often utilize the large grassy courtyard and areas outside the classrooms for lessons, independent projects and art, in addition to P.E. and recess.

“Coming to school here is kind of like an adven­ture … and so the kids are happy to come here and happy to learn, and you learn better when you’re in that mindset,” Madar said.

Sedona Red Rock Junior/Senior High School

Sedona Red Rock Junior/Senior High School received a “C” rating. For AzMerit, 36% of their students passed ELA, while 20% passed math. They received 29 out of 50 points for year-over-year academic growth.

Many of SRRHS’s students are English Language Learners, with even more this school year than last, according to SOCSD’s assistant super­intendent Deana DeWitt. All students, regardless of English proficiency, take the AzMerit test in English.

“As is to be expected, students who are not profi­cient in English have a more difficult time demon­strating mastery in ELA or any other portion of the standardized test that is administered in English,” DeWitt said.

For the upcoming version of AzMerit in spring 2020, DeWitt said that the district’s goal, as always, “is to improve student achievement.” However, improvement will be harder to measure in Arizona high schools next year.

“[In 2020], the test will change from AzMerit to AzM2. Grades 3-8 will take it as they have taken AzMerit in the past, but only tenth grade will take it at the high school level,” DeWitt said.

Red Rock Academy

Red Rock Academy received a “D” rating. Although Red Rock Academy’s home is within Sedona Red Rock High School, the alternative online high school is rated on its own merits.

Attendance fluctuates between around 15 to 40 students during a given year, and the students don’t necessarily need to be local.

“This was the first year that district alternative schools were given A-F letter grades,” DeWitt said. “They are graded using the same criteria as the tradi­tional schools.”

West Sedona School

West Sedona School received a “C” rating. For AzMerit, 29% of their third through eighth graders passed ELA, while 23% passed math. They received 34 out of 50 points for year over year growth.

Aaron Coleman, the former Red Rock Academy director who will be taking the reins as principal of West Sedona School Jan. 6, said some of his main goals for the school are to improve test scores and the school’s letter grade.

Coleman’s move makes him the fourth new prin­cipal for the district in the last three years. With 16 new teachers hired in the district in 2019 alone, retention rate for Sedona’s public schools isn’t high, and a higher teacher reten­tion rate is often linked with higher test scores. However, DeWitt said that besides all the new teachers being appropri­ately certified, the district is “confident in their abili­ties to provide effective instruction in their content areas.”

In order to strive towards higher scores, DeWitt said that teachers have increased “rigor in the classroom” as well as adopted different strate­gies to meet the varying needs of the students.

“We have established tutoring programs outside of the regular school day and provided interventions within the school day for our struggling students,” she said.

District teachers will start preparing students for the AzM2 next year with practice tests. DeWitt also said that the Galileo bench­mark testing the district implements throughout the year helps “to monitor student growth toward standards mastery.”

Other Verde Valley Schools

In Camp Verde, the public elementary and middle schools received “C” ratings while the high school received a “B” rating. Camp Verde High School had 20% of students pass the AzMerit’s ELA portion and 12% pass math. Camp Verde Middle School had 29% of students pass ELA and 29% math. Camp Verde Elementary School had 32% of eligible students pass ELA and 25% pass math.

American Heritage Academy’s Camp Verde campus received a “C” rating with 21% of eligible students passing AzMerit ELA and 13% passing math.

In Cottonwood, Mingus Union High School received a “C” letter grade with 26% of its students passing AzMerit English and 31% passing math. Oak Creek Elementary School was exempt from a letter grade because of its realign­ment as a new school. Of its eligible students, 44% passed AzMerit English and 34% passed math.

Mountain View Preparatory students had 52% pass AzMerit English and 42% pass math. American Her i tage Academy’s Cottonwood campus received a “B” rating with 32% passing AzMerit English and 30% passing math.

Clarkdale-Jerome School received a “B” rating with 60% of its eligible students passing AzMerit ELA and 46% passing math.