Students in Arizona not only get to enjoy year-round warm weather (making for great recess periods), but are also afforded an excellent education. You might imagine that the top school districts in the state would all be based within the Phoenix metropolitan area, however, among the top ten there is a balanced distribution representing several regions of the state.

Of the ten highest ranked school districts in Arizona, three are located in Pima County (whose county seat, Tucson, is the state’s second largest city), five are within the Greater Phoenix Area, and two are based in Apache County located in the northeastern portion of the state. Gilbert, a fast growing city of over 200,000 in the Phoenix area, owns the distinction of being home to two districts in the top ten.

Arizona’s best school district is Gilbert Unified Public School District, serving the aforementioned city of Gilbert in Maricopa County. 11 of GUSD’s 27 elementary schools, 6 junior highs, and five high schools have been named A+ Schools of Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation.

Second in the ranking is Dysart Unified School District, which serves parts of several cities in the Northwest Phoenix Metro area. The nationally recognized district regularly exceeds averages in graduation rate and standardized testing.

We move south to a suburban community of Tucson for third-ranked Tanque Verde Unified School District, whose sole high school--Tanque Verde High School--was featured in US News and World Report’s 2017 Best High Schools in America list.

#4 St. Johns Unified School District and #5 Round Valley Unified School District are two fine districts serving parts of Apache County, home to more Indian reservation land than any other U.S. county.

Methodology

The following contributed to the ranking: student performance (math and reading test scores), dropout rates, school funding, and area poverty rates. Data was collected from a total of 9,577 school districts.

Did your district make the list?