American Leadership Academy Signal Butte K-6, Queen Creek AZ

Original Research by School Decision on American Leadership Academy Signal Butte K-6

American Leadership Academy Signal Butte K-6 is a public charter school in Queen Creek serving kindergarten through sixth grade. Queen Creek is a fast-growing, car-dependent suburb southeast of Phoenix that has transformed from a farming community into a landscape of master-planned subdivisions built on former agricultural land. The town retains working farms, pecan groves, and agritainment destinations like Schnepf Farms and the Queen Creek Olive Mill, but its everyday texture is suburban residential, with schools sited on separate campuses throughout neighborhoods rather than clustered in a walkable downtown.

This charter school is part of the American Leadership Academy network, a charter holder that has expanded rapidly across multiple Arizona communities. The network now operates a number of schools serving different grade spans in places including Gilbert, Mesa, San Tan Valley, and Waddell, reflecting sustained growth that increases school choice options for families in the region.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and modest representation of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. The school serves kindergarten through sixth grade, so no graduation rate is reported. Because it covers elementary and middle school grades, readers will find no high school course data here.

State assessment results for the most recent testing year show a mixed picture across grades and subjects. In mathematics, proficiency rates varied noticeably by grade level, with third grade showing the strongest performance and fourth grade the weakest. English language arts results followed a similar grade-level pattern, with fourth graders performing strongest and fifth graders weakest. Science results, available for fifth grade only, were lower still. Overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed the school below the midpoint relative to other districts in Maricopa County, an important comparison set for families evaluating academic performance against neighboring schools.

Free or reduced-price meal data was not reported, so the economic composition of the student body remains unclear. Information on special education and English learner enrollment was also missing. A parent interested in these support structures may want to ask the school directly about how they serve students with diverse learning needs.

Charter status means the school operates independently of the local district boundaries, drawing students through open enrollment. Queen Creek is served by multiple public school districts and other charter schools, giving families a range of options in this rapidly developing area. The town's housing market reflects its growth, with home values in the area that are above the national benchmark. The broader Phoenix metro has seen modest declines in home values and rents recently.

The American Leadership Academy network's continued expansion means this school exists within a system that has added campuses and enrollment capacity in recent years, broadening its footprint across the region. For families considering this school, the academic results for several grade levels are areas where further conversation with the school about instruction and student progress would be worthwhile. The school provides an elementary-through-middle-grade pathway in the charter network, with the understanding that students will need to transition to a secondary campus within the system or elsewhere after sixth grade.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 62% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 51% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 54% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 49% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 59% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 54% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 59% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 51% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

This schoolAmerican Leadership Academy Inc. (4348), 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.