Pan-american Charter School, Phoenix AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Pan-american Charter School

Pan-American Charter School serves kindergarten through twelfth grade as a single-site charter school within Phoenix. The school is a regular public charter school organized under the Pan-American Elementary Charter district.

The student body is heavily concentrated in one demographic group, with a very large share of students identifying as Hispanic. White students, Black students, Asian students, and students of two or more races each make up a very small portion of the enrollment. Free or reduced-price meal eligibility data was not available. The school does not report the share of students with disabilities or the share identified as English learners, so a parent cannot easily gauge the intensity of special education or language support offered.

On state assessments, Pan-American Charter School’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Maricopa County. In elementary grades three through five, math proficiency rates are modest, and English language arts rates are lower. In middle school grades six through eight, English language arts proficiency rates are a bit higher than the elementary grades but still limited compared to peer schools. Science proficiency in both fifth and eighth grades is very low. A multi-year view shows that in the single year for which trend data is available, English language arts proficiency ticked downward and math proficiency moved slightly upward, but both changes are small and cannot be read as a clear direction. Grade-level proficiency results for older students, including high school, were not available. Because the school serves all secondary grades, state testing for those grades was expected but not provided in the data; a family considering the school may want to ask directly about high school academic performance.

The school does not report a graduation rate, which is a significant gap for a school that serves twelfth grade. A parent should inquire what share of incoming ninth graders complete a diploma and in what timeframe.

The school building sits on West Indian School Road in Phoenix. Phoenix is a large, sprawling urban center that has grown rapidly over decades and continues to expand. The economy is concentrated in high-technology, manufacturing, tourism, and services. Sky Harbor International Airport is a major transportation facility. The city is car-oriented, with wide roadways on a grid pattern. The area around the school is a mix of commercial and residential uses common to central Phoenix. Home values in the area have declined somewhat recently, and rents have also fallen slightly.

The charter district’s website was searched for recent changes such as boundary adjustments, program launches, or leadership turnover, but nothing that met the bar of a lasting, parent-relevant change was found in publicly available sources.

Pan-American Charter School offers a single-campus kindergarten through twelfth grade pathway within a large and growing city. Academic performance on state tests is below the midpoint of Maricopa County districts, especially in science and elementary English language arts. The school does not report special population counts, graduation outcomes, or high school assessment results, which makes it hard for a parent to fully evaluate the program. Families who value the convenience of a single K-12 charter may find the school worth visiting, but they should expect to gather additional information directly from the school about academic outcomes in the upper grades and the support services available.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

60-79%Cohort of 29 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

512 schools plotted. 33 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

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

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 31% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 18% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 27% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 30% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

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

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

This schoolPan-American Elementary Charter (79578), 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.