Sundance Elementary, Buckeye AZ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sundance Elementary

Sundance Elementary serves students from preschool through eighth grade as a regular public school within the Buckeye Elementary District. The school sits in Sundance, one of the many master-planned communities in Buckeye, a city that has seen exceptionally rapid growth and continues to expand with new residential developments. For families considering this area, the pace of construction means that school assignment boundaries can shift as the district opens new facilities to keep up with demand. The district recently opened John S. McCain III Elementary, another K-8 school, which may relieve crowding and reshape attendance zones in coming years.

The student body is modest in size for a K-8 campus. The largest share of students identifies as Hispanic, followed by smaller shares of White, Black, Asian, and other racial and ethnic groups. Information on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals was not available, nor were counts of students with individualized education plans or English learner classifications. A parent who wants a full picture of the school’s support services and economic context would need to seek that data from the district directly.

State test results from the most recent school year offer a mixed academic picture. In math, third graders scored at a level where more than half met the proficiency bar, a relatively solid showing. Fourth graders were somewhat lower, and performance dropped sharply in fifth and sixth grades, where only a modest share of students reached proficiency. Seventh and eighth graders improved compared to the middle grades but remained below the third-grade peak. The pattern in English language arts is similar: the early elementary grades posted the strongest results, with about two-fifths of third and fourth graders proficient. Fifth and sixth grade results were considerably weaker, while seventh graders recovered to about two-fifths proficient, and eighth graders slid back down. Science is tested only in fifth and eighth grade, and in both cases proficiency rates were low. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across subjects and grades, falls below the midpoint when measured against other districts in Maricopa County. That tells a parent that academic attainment here lags the county average, though the early elementary years show a relative strength worth noting. A family may want to ask the school about how it supports students as they move into the upper elementary and middle school grades.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or course access. Because Sundance is a K-8 school, it has no graduation rate; that metric applies only to high schools. The lack of information on student support programs and school climate means a parent should expect to gather those details directly from the school or district.

Buckeye itself is a car-dependent city of widely dispersed master-planned communities, with a historic downtown that still anchors civic life. The community is adding jobs in logistics, manufacturing, and renewable energy, and the housing market in the school’s zip code reflects moderate home values and rents that have held relatively steady. Families moving to Sundance should anticipate a suburban environment with long commutes to most employment centers and limited pedestrian infrastructure beyond individual neighborhoods. The school sits within that suburban fabric, serving children from the surrounding development.

Overall, Sundance Elementary presents a profile that fits a family looking for a neighborhood K-8 school in a fast-growing outer suburb, but the academic record in the tested middle grades gives a parent reason to investigate how the school addresses learning gaps that appear after early elementary.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 33% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 34% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 21% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 21% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 21% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 27% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 22% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 33% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 26% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 30% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 31% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 32% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 26% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 23% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

This schoolBuckeye Elementary District (4269), 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.