The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 32%.
Original Research by School Decision on A+ Charter Schools
A+ Charter Schools serves grades six through twelve as a regular public charter school in Maricopa, a fast-growing city in Pinal County that has transformed from an agricultural community into a residential hub for commuters to the Phoenix metro area. The school operates under a four-day instructional week and uses a project-based learning model, a structural choice that shapes both the calendar and the daily academic experience.
Enrollment at the school is moderate for the grade band it serves, with a student body that is diverse in its makeup. Hispanic students form the largest share of the population, followed by white students, then Black students, with smaller groups of students who are two or more races, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners was not available, so a family cannot assess those dimensions of the school’s support framework from the information here.
State assessment results provide a partial picture of academic performance. In English language arts, the school reported proficiency rates of roughly a third of students in sixth grade and a share slightly higher than that in seventh grade; eighth-grade ELA results were suppressed, so no figure is available for that grade. In math, results were suppressed across all tested grades, meaning the state did not release them. Science results for eighth grade were also suppressed. Looking across all tested subjects and grades where a figure was reported, the school’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among districts in Pinal County. Still, the mix of suppressed data and reported figures leaves a partial view; the availability of results for grades six and seven in ELA gives some sense of performance, but the suppressed math and science numbers mean a parent cannot see how students are doing in those subjects through the public record alone. A parent may want to ask the school directly about its math and science outcomes.
The school belongs to a single-charter district that also bears the A+ name. The district publicly reported adopting a four-day week and a project-based learning model, both of which represent lasting shifts in scheduling and instruction that families need to weigh for fit. Whether the four-day schedule aligns with a family’s work and childcare routines, and whether the project-based approach suits a student’s learning style, are practical considerations that depend on personal priorities.
Maricopa itself is a rapidly growing city, with residential subdivisions, recreational anchors like Copper Sky Recreation Complex and Pacana Park, and major employers that include a casino and resort, automotive proving grounds, and research facilities. Housing values in the area are moderate relative to state benchmarks, and rents have been rising. The city’s growth trajectory means the school operates in a community that is adding population and housing stock at a steady pace, though the school’s own enrollment context is not directly tied to those trends in the available data.
The school does not serve a grade level that produces a graduation rate, so that metric is not applicable here. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available. The suppression of many state test results, combined with the lack of data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education, and English learner status, means a family has an incomplete set of the usual indicators to evaluate this school’s academic and support profile. The reported ELA results and the above-midpoint proficiency index within Pinal County give a partial positive signal, but the gaps are significant enough that an interested parent would want to follow up with the school directly for a fuller account.
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