The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Math. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Sonoran Science Academy-peoria
Sonoran Science Academy-Peoria is a charter school serving kindergarten through twelfth grade in Peoria, a fast-growing suburb northwest of Phoenix. The school is part of a single-school charter district, Daisy Education Corporation. While the school is listed as serving kindergarten through twelfth grade, enrollment data shows students only in kindergarten through eighth grade; the high school grades had no enrolled students in the most recent reporting year. That means a family looking for a high school experience here will want to confirm current programming directly with the school.
The school sits in a city that has transformed from an agricultural settlement into a sprawling, car-dependent suburb with a mix of master-planned communities, commercial corridors, and resort-style living. Peoria’s population has grown rapidly, and its development strategy now centers on industrial and commercial projects along a major freeway corridor, including a new semiconductor plant that is expected to bring thousands of jobs. Housing values in the zip code around the school are above the national median but have softened slightly in the past year, and rents have held fairly steady.
Academically, the state testing data provides a mixed and incomplete picture. For math, the only grade level with a reported proficiency rate was third grade, where a majority of students scored proficient. Results for fourth through eighth grade were suppressed, which often happens with small testing groups and means a reader cannot assess those grade levels from this data alone. In English language arts, third and fourth graders had reported results, with a majority of third graders and about half of fourth graders scoring proficient. Sixth and eighth graders also had reported results, with rates lower than the earlier grades. Fifth and seventh grade results were suppressed. In science, only eighth grade had a reported result, where fewer than half of students scored proficient. When the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades is compared against other districts in Maricopa County, it sits above the midpoint. That takes a range of grade-level data into account, but the many suppressed results mean the comparison should be read with some caution.
The school’s enrollment is on the smaller side for a school serving this grade span. The student body is majority white, with substantial shares of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch was not available, and data on students with disabilities and English learners was also missing. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these populations and the supports in place. The school environment section contains no information on discipline rates, course access, or staffing ratios, so a family seeking a fuller picture of the day-to-day climate will need to gather that in person.
Graduation rate data was not available, which is consistent with a school that had no enrolled high school students in the recent reporting period.
In short, Sonoran Science Academy-Peoria is a small charter school in a rapidly growing Phoenix suburb where the available test data is limited by suppressed results but suggests a modest academic profile relative to the county. The school’s identity as a kindergarten through eighth grade institution for now, despite its listed range, is the single most important characteristic for a family to verify before considering it. The broader Peoria context offers strong employment growth and a suburban lifestyle that suits families who are comfortable with a car-dependent setting and dispersed commercial nodes rather than a traditional downtown.
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