Last week the Arizona State Board of Education released school letter grades for the 2018-19 academic year.

State statute requires that every year the Arizona Department of Education develop an “achievement profile” of all public schools based on an A through F scale.

Of the four schools located here in Fountain Hills, three received grades from the state. McDowell Mountain Elementary School does not receive a grade because it is a K-3 school.

Fountain Hills Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Allen will give a presentation on school grades and AzMerit test results at the board meeting tonight, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the District Learning Center.

FHHS

Fountain Hills High School received an A rating for the second year in a row.

Dr. Allen pointed to a few bright spots from the high school assessments.

“The high school’s total proficiency points increased,” Dr. Allen said. “The graduation rate increased from 89 percent to 92.5 percent, which are strong numbers, helped also by the bonus points for passing AIMS Science.”

Proficiency points measure the number of students who passed the AzMerit tests. FHHS’ proficiency points total this year was 23.24, a 6.67 increase from last year.

Out of the 90 points the high school could have earned in its evaluation, FHHS scored 72.74.

FHMS

Fountain Hills Middle School maintained a B rating for the 2018-19 school year.

Even though the letter grade didn’t change, Dr. Allen can point to some improvements made.

“The middle school’s total proficiency points went up,” Dr. Allen explained. “Their growth points went up by nearly two points and they also earned their bonus points for the AIMS Science.”

FHMS earned 36.47 proficiency points and, of the 100 total points possible, they earned 77.21.

FHCS

The Fountain Hills Charter received a C rating this year, a step up from the previous year were the school received an F that they later appealed to make a D.

A request for comment was not answered by the school by press time.