Horseshoe Trails Elementary School, Phoenix AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Horseshoe Trails Elementary School

Horseshoe Trails Elementary School in Phoenix is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and is part of the Cave Creek Unified District. This is a school where state assessment results are well above average. On the most recent year of testing, overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed the school in the top quartile relative to districts across Maricopa County. In math, proficiency rates were strong across the tested grade levels, and in English language arts, the majority of students in most grades met the bar as well. Science results, which the state tests in fifth grade, showed a clear majority of students reaching proficiency. It is worth noting that the sixth-grade group, in both math and English language arts, had a lower proficiency rate compared to the rest of the school. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how that cohort is being supported.

The student body is small relative to many elementary schools in the area. Enrollment is predominantly white, with a Hispanic student population representing about one-tenth of the student body, and smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, Asian, Black, or American Indian or Alaska Native. The school does not have a reported Title I status, and data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners were not available. A parent choosing this school will be enrolling in a setting where the makeup of the student population is fairly homogenous by race and ethnicity.

The school is located in Phoenix, a large and rapidly growing city that functions as a major economic hub for the region. The city’s economy leans heavily on high-technology manufacturing, tourism, and services. The specific area near the school, at the northern edge of Phoenix in the Pinnacle Peak neighborhood, is residential and relatively removed from the denser central parts of the city. Housing values in this zip code are well above the state median, and the year-over-year trend shows a modest decline in both home values and rents. The estimated monthly mortgage on a median-priced home, given current interest rates, is high, and rent consumes a large share of a typical local income. For families considering a move to this attendance area, housing is expensive and has softened slightly, but the school sits in an affluent pocket within the larger Phoenix metro.

Horseshoe Trails is an elementary only school; there are no state-tested results for pre-kindergarten or kindergarten, as those grades are not part of the testing program. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The Cave Creek Unified District did not have any recent parent-relevant changes surfaced in the available records, so there are no major district-level policy shifts, boundary changes, or facility plans to note here.

For a parent, this is a school with a clear academic strength on its state assessments, operating in a fast-growing metropolitan region where housing costs are steep. The student population is not diverse. The drop in proficiency rates between the school’s strongest grade-level results and its weakest, particularly in sixth grade, is a specific point worth asking about directly. If academic performance relative to the state is a primary consideration, the school’s track record supports it.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 368%

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

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 478%

School 78% · District 62% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 68% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 54% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 61% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 71% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 60% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 58% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 54% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 31 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.