Desert Star, Goodyear AZ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Desert Star

Desert Star serves preschool through eighth grade as a regular public school within the Avondale Elementary District in Goodyear. The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary-middle combination, and the student body reflects the surrounding community’s demographic makeup, with a majority of students identifying as Hispanic, followed by a substantial white population and a smaller but present share of Black students. Data on the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, on students with disabilities, and on English learners was not available, so a family wanting to understand those dimensions of support would need to follow up directly with the school or district.

In terms of academic performance, the picture is mixed and has a notable upward slope in the upper grades. On state assessments in English language arts, proficiency rates for grades three through five were modest, with one early grade registering a particularly low result. Starting in sixth grade, proficiency rates climbed into a higher range, and by seventh and eighth grade, roughly half of students met the bar. In math, the pattern is similar but less pronounced: grades three through seven showed a consistent range of modest proficiency, and then eighth grade jumped to a noticeably higher level, reaching around half of students meeting the standard. Science results tell a comparable story, with fifth-grade proficiency at a lower level and eighth-grade proficiency reaching a meaningfully higher one. Overall, across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s proficiency index places it below the midpoint when compared with other districts across Maricopa County. There is no high school at Desert Star, so there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on chronic absenteeism was available.

The school is part of the Avondale Elementary District, which, based on publicly reported information, appears not to have undergone major recent changes such as bond elections, significant curriculum shifts, or new programs that a family would want to weigh. The district brief turned up little of consequence, so this narrative does not speculate about any unstated developments.

Goodyear itself is a rapidly growing suburban city west of Phoenix. The population has increased substantially in recent years, driven by large master-planned communities such as Estrella, Palm Valley, and the active-adult community PebbleCreek. The city is car-dependent, spread out across a wide geographic area, and lacks a traditional walkable downtown, though a new City Hall complex opened in 2022 as an effort to create a civic core. Interstate 10 is the primary route through town. Major employers include the city government, a cancer treatment center, UPS, a state prison complex, and spring training baseball operations. Housing values in the area are moderately high by national standards, and rents have been relatively stable, though rent is less costly on a monthly basis than a typical mortgage payment given current interest rates.

A family considering Desert Star should look at the gap between early-grade and upper-grade performance, particularly in English language arts, and ask the school about what supports are in place for the lower-performing years. The school’s student population is diverse, its setting is suburban and rapidly growing, and it sits in a district where little has recently changed in terms of publicly reported initiatives.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 28% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 26% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 19% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 27% · ▲ 5 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 30% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 25% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 35% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 28% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 38% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 42% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 44% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 30% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

This schoolAvondale Elementary District (4272), 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.