The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bret R. Tarver Leadership Academy
Bret R. Tarver Leadership Academy is a regular public elementary school in Phoenix serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The school is part of the Cartwright Elementary District, which covers a portion of the city’s west side. The school is named for a fallen Phoenix firefighter, a detail that gives a sense of the community grounding behind the institution, though it is a public school with no special charter or magnet status on record.
The student body is large for an elementary school, with enrollment in the upper hundreds. The vast majority of students are Hispanic, and the remaining students are primarily Black, with small numbers identifying as white, two or more races, Native American, or Asian. Data on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals was not available in the records reviewed, nor was information on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these support structures, as they typically shape a school’s staffing and resource allocation.
Academically, the state assessment results for the 2024-25 school year show a school that is working to raise its performance. In fourth grade, about a third of students met proficiency in English language arts, which was the highest rate across the tested grades in that subject. In fifth grade, roughly a fifth of students were proficient in ELA, and a similar share met the bar in science. Math proficiency rates across grades three, four, and five all hovered around a fifth of students. Results for sixth-grade math and third-grade ELA were suppressed in the available data, so those specific numbers are not reported. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages all reported subjects and grades, placed it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Maricopa County. That is a soft spot that a family should look into further with the school, especially if they are weighing it against other elementary options. The data covers only a single year, so no multi-year trend is visible.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to consider. The attendance and chronic absenteeism data was also missing from the records.
The school sits within the Cartwright Elementary District, which has no publicly reported major recent changes or strategic initiatives that came through in the district brief. The district itself is an elementary-only system, so students move on to a different high school district after sixth grade, something a parent planning ahead will want to track.
The surrounding community is Phoenix, a large, fast-growing city that has shifted from its agricultural roots into a service, technology, and manufacturing hub. The economy is concentrated in aerospace, electronics, and tourism, with Sky Harbor International Airport as a major transportation asset. The city’s layout is car-oriented, with a flat grid of wide roadways, and its downtown holds the state capitol and major venues. Growth has been consistently strong over decades, though specific new housing developments near the school were not detailed in the research. The housing market in the school’s zip code shows a modest softening in home values with a slight year-over-year decline, while rents have crept up. The area is moderately more affordable than the state as a whole, with estimated monthly mortgage costs that are lower than the state benchmark, though the comparison shifts with interest rates.
Bret R. Tarver Leadership Academy presents as a large, diverse elementary school within a stable district, one where the academic data suggests the school is still building toward stronger results. Families who value a school with a clear public identity and a community-connected name may find it a familiar option in a growing part of Phoenix.
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