Rio Vista Elementary School, Tucson AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Rio Vista Elementary School

Rio Vista Elementary School is a regular public school in Tucson, part of the Amphitheater Unified District, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school is located in a residential area of the city, which as a whole is a major desert urban center anchored by the University of Arizona, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and a mix of tech and tourism industries. The district’s leadership has not recently announced significant structural changes or new initiatives that would shift a parent’s near-term planning; the district brief found no parent-relevant developments to report.

Academically, state assessment results for the most recent school year place Rio Vista’s overall proficiency in math and English language arts below the midpoint among Pima County elementary schools. In each tested grade, roughly a third of students met the state’s proficiency bar in math and reading. Science results for fifth graders were lower, with about one in five students scoring proficient. One grade-level English result was suppressed for privacy reasons due to a small student group, which is not uncommon in elementary settings. The school has only a single year of assessment data in the current format, so there is no meaningful trend to describe; a parent will need to track future results to see direction.

The student body is diverse. A substantial majority of students are Hispanic, with White students making up the next largest group and smaller shares of Black, Native American, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, receiving special education services, or classified as English learners was not provided in the data. Since the school serves only early and elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report.

The surrounding Tucson housing market reflects a large metro area with a wide range of neighborhoods. Home values in the school’s immediate area are moderate relative to national benchmarks, and rents are at a level that is broadly affordable for families earning a typical local income. The area’s recent housing price trend has been slightly down, while rents have inched up. The economic context shows national mortgage rates near historic averages for the past couple of years and stable unemployment.

No specific program offerings, such as gifted education, dual language, or specialized arts, were listed in the available data, so a parent interested in enrichment or magnet options should contact the school directly. The school does not carry charter or magnet status. Overall, Rio Vista Elementary serves a largely Hispanic student population in a mid-sized elementary school within Tucson’s Amphitheater District, with state test results that fall below the county median and a setting that is characteristic of the city’s residential neighborhoods.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 42% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 48% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 40% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 39% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 48% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 37% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

This schoolAmphitheater Unified District (4406), 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.