Desert Willow Elementary School, Cave Creek AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Desert Willow Elementary School

Desert Willow Elementary School sits in Cave Creek, a small, low-density desert town with a deliberately preserved Western identity. The town's economy blends tourism, hospitality, and residential living, and its setting is spread-out Sonoran Desert rather than a walkable grid. Homes in the school's zip code are priced well above state and national benchmarks, and the area's household income is affluent by national standards. The school itself is a regular public elementary serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and is part of the Cave Creek Unified District.

With roughly 400 students, Desert Willow is a mid-sized elementary for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with about one-fifth Hispanic students and small shares of Asian and multiracial students. Data on students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, students with disabilities, and English learners were not available in the records reviewed, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these support populations and how they are served.

Academically, Desert Willow posts a strong overall picture. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's combined proficiency rate places it in the top quarter of all school districts in Maricopa County, a large and diverse county. That is a genuine strength and suggests solid instructional quality schoolwide.

Looking at specific subjects and grades, the pattern is uneven but generally good. In English language arts, proficiency across grades three through six runs in the low to mid-sixties, with the highest share reaching about two-thirds of students meeting the bar. Math proficiency varies more by grade. Students in grade five and grade six post strong results, with roughly seven in ten and six in ten proficient, respectively. But in grade three and grade four, math proficiency is lower, with fewer than half of students meeting the mark. A parent whose child is entering the early elementary years may want to talk with the school about how math instruction is structured for those grades and what supports exist for students who are behind. Science is tested in grade five only, and just over half of students scored proficient, which is in the same range as the school's overall performance in other subjects.

The school's proficiency trend data covers only two years, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady. That is a gap worth noting.

Given that Desert Willow stops at grade six, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not serve grades that would typically have chronic absenteeism data at the high school level. Those metrics are absent for structural reasons, not an indication of weakness.

Cave Creek itself has seen modest population shifts since its incorporation and is now focused on water management rather than rapid expansion. The town is car-dependent and has no public transit. For families considering a move, the housing market is expensive relative to both the state and the nation, and residents in this area typically own their homes. The school's location within the Cave Creek Unified District means that students will eventually move on to a district middle school and high school, so the elementary experience is part of a longer pathway.

Desert Willow Elementary is a high-performing school within an affluent, low-density desert community. Its strongest academic year is grade five, where math and science results are especially solid, and overall it outperforms most peer districts in the county. The early elementary math results merit a closer look, and the missing demographic and support-service data leave some questions unanswered for a family weighing fit. But the core academic picture is a favorable one.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 340%

School 40% · District 61% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 62% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 68% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 54% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 61% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 71% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 60% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 58% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

This schoolCave Creek Unified District (4244), same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.