Original Research by School Decision on New Crossroads Academy
New Crossroads Academy serves grades ten through twelve as a regular public school within the Cochise County Accommodation School District. The school is located in Bisbee, a former copper mining town in southeastern Arizona that has reinvented itself as an artist community and heritage tourism destination. Bisbee’s historic core, Old Bisbee, is compact and walkable, with Victorian and Art Deco architecture, art galleries, music venues, and restaurants on steep canyon slopes. The town serves as the Cochise County seat, so county government is a major local employer alongside tourism-related businesses. Bisbee’s population has declined long-term from a historic peak, and the housing stock reflects a mix of preserved historic homes and some vacancy. Housing values in the area are lower than the state and national benchmarks.
The school’s enrollment profile is distinctive. The vast majority of students identify as Hispanic, with a much smaller share of white students and very small numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native and Black students. The enrollment itself is heavily concentrated in grade twelve, which accounts for the bulk of the student body, while grade ten has a handful of students and grade eleven has a modest group. This grade distribution is unusual for a school serving grades ten through twelve. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, receiving special education services, or classified as English learners were not available for this report, so those aspects of the student body cannot be characterized here.
New Crossroads Academy belongs to the Cochise County Accommodation School District, which is a county-level entity rather than a traditional residential school district. The district expanded its grade span in a recent school year from grades ten through twelve to include grades six through nine, a structural change that broadens its service to younger students. The school’s own grade span remains grades ten through twelve.
State testing data was not available for New Crossroads Academy, so the school cannot be compared to others in Arizona on proficiency measures. Because testing data was missing, the school also does not appear in the county-level comparison of districts on academic performance. A graduation rate was also not available. Readers should be aware that alternative and accommodation schools serving specific populations sometimes do not participate in standard state accountability testing in the same way as traditional district schools, which may explain the absence of these data points. A parent interested in academic outcomes would need to ask the school directly for any available student performance information.
Program offerings and course access data were not available, so there is no information on Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, career and technical education, or other pathways offered at the school. Staffing data, including student-teacher ratios, was not provided. Discipline and attendance information were also absent.
The school is situated in Bisbee, a town with a thriving downtown cultural scene and a notable walkable core, though the hilly terrain and the spread-out satellite communities of Warren, Lowell, and San Jose mean that car access matters for some residents. The old four-story high school building in the town core is a local landmark, with a ground-level entrance on each floor reflecting the extreme topography.
New Crossroads Academy is a small high school with an unusual grade distribution dominated by twelfth graders, serving a predominantly Hispanic student body in a county accommodation school district that recently expanded to include middle school grades. Without testing data, a graduation rate, or program information, the academic profile of the school remains largely unmeasured in the standard public metrics. Families considering this school should contact the school directly to understand its curriculum, student support services, college and career preparation, and daily operations.
See more original research from School Decision →