The reported proficiency rate for Math is 67%.
Original Research by School Decision on La Paloma Academy Marana
La Paloma Academy Marana is a small charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in the town of Marana, a fast-growing community northwest of Tucson. It functions as a regular public charter school under the Liberty Traditional Charter School district. The school’s enrollment is modest for a K‑8 campus, with cohorts in each grade that are small enough that the state suppressed most of its 2024‑25 assessment results to protect student privacy. Because of these small class sizes, the public academic record is thin. Only one grade level, fourth, had a reported math proficiency rate, and that single data point stood at a level that placed the school in the top quartile when compared against districts across Pima County. That strong result, however, is based on a single grade and cannot be extrapolated to the school as a whole. For all other tested grades in math, English language arts, and science, the results were suppressed, leaving families without a broad achievement picture from state testing.
The school’s student body is diverse. About half of the students are Hispanic, roughly two‑fifths are White, and the remainder are Asian, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, or of two or more races. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced‑price lunch, as well as counts of students with disabilities and English learners, were not reported in the available data. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to consider.
La Paloma Academy Marana is located on the northwestern edge of Marana, a town that has grown rapidly through targeted annexation along Interstate 10 and now spans a large expanse of Sonoran Desert. Marana lacks a traditional downtown; civic and commercial activity is spread among highway‑oriented shopping centers, residential subdivisions, and the resort‑golf enclave of Dove Mountain. The town’s largest employer is the Marana Unified School District, but this school sits under a separate charter district, not the local unified district. The area is car‑dependent, with limited public transit connecting to Tucson. Home values in the surrounding ZIP code are a bit below the statewide median, and rents have been rising, consistent with the region’s growth.
No recent changes at the district level that would affect parents were found in publicly available records, so the operational setting appears stable. The school’s charter status means it operates independently of the local district’s attendance boundaries; admission is by application.
For a family considering this school, the main takeaway is that the available academic data is limited. The single reported proficiency result is a positive signal, but a parent would want to look into this further with the school to understand how students across all grades perform, how the school supports its diverse student body, and what programs and resources are in place. The small enrollment likely means close teacher‑student relationships, but it also means state‑level comparisons are difficult to make. The school fits a family looking for a smaller, charter‑managed K‑8 option in a fast‑growing suburban setting, but the academic picture beyond one grade remains primarily a matter to explore directly.
See more original research from School Decision →