The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Benjamin Franklin Charter School - Power
Benjamin Franklin Charter School – Power, a public charter school in the southeastern part of Gilbert, serves kindergarten through sixth grade and enrolls a large student body for an elementary school. The school sits in a fast-growing part of the Phoenix metro area, a corridor where master-planned subdivisions and strip-commercial development have replaced the farming landscape that once defined the town. Gilbert itself is a large, car-dependent suburb, and this campus is located near the southern edge of town, not far from the Santan Freeway.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Asian, Black, multiracial, and Native American students. The school’s charter status means it operates independently of the local district boundaries; any family in the area can apply. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, as well as counts of students with disabilities and English learners, was not reported, which leaves an incomplete picture of the school’s socioeconomic and support-service profile. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these figures.
On state assessments, Benjamin Franklin Charter School – Power posts results that, overall, sit above the midpoint among all districts in Maricopa County. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through six cluster around half of students meeting the bar, with a slight dip in sixth grade. In English language arts, performance is more varied: third grade falls below that same midpoint, with just over a third of students proficient, while rates climb steadily through fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, reaching a level where nearly two-thirds of sixth graders are proficient. Science results for fifth graders, the only tested grade in that subject, show that just under two-fifths of students reached the proficient mark. The school has only one year of state assessment data in the available record, so there is no trend to evaluate yet.
Because this school ends at sixth grade, there is no graduation rate and no high school course access data such as Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment offerings. The charter school network operates under the name Benjamin Franklin Charter School – Queen Creek, but the search for recent district-level changes or strategic initiatives turned up little publicly reported material, so this narrative does not include any such context.
Housing in the area carries a value that is well above the national typical home price and above the state median as well, reflecting the broader market dynamics of the southeast Phoenix suburbs. Rents have been softening modestly, consistent with a cooling trend seen across the metro area. Employment conditions nationally are stable, with low unemployment and a median household income that has drifted upward over the past several years.
This is a school for families who want a charter option in the south Gilbert area and are comfortable with a large elementary campus. The academic results are a mixed picture: math performance is roughly middle-of-the-pack relative to other schools in the county, while English language arts shows a clear upward trajectory across the grade span, with younger students notably weaker in reading than their older peers. A parent considering this school for a child entering in the early grades may want to explore what reading intervention or support the school provides. The school does not have high school grades, so families will need to plan for a separate middle and high school placement after sixth grade. Overall, Benjamin Franklin Charter School – Power offers a charter school environment with academic results that are above the county median overall but with a soft spot in early-grade literacy that warrants a closer look.
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