Dysart Middle School, El Mirage AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Dysart Middle School

Dysart Middle School serves students from fifth through eighth grade in El Mirage, a suburban city in the northwest Phoenix metropolitan area. The school is part of the Dysart Unified District, a system that recently underwent a district-wide grade reconfiguration and a rebranding to Dysart Schools. A substantial majority of the student body is Hispanic, and the remainder is made up of smaller shares of white, Black, and multiracial students. The school’s enrollment is sizable for a middle school. El Mirage itself is a car-dependent, growing community with a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial parks. Major employers include Luke Air Force Base and the school district itself, and the city has anchored its recent development around a foreign trade zone and transportation corridors. For families moving to the area, housing values are generally below the state benchmark, and rents are moderate relative to national income levels, though the market has seen a slight softening.

State testing data from the most recent school year shows that proficiency rates in both math and English language arts are low across all tested grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient varies by grade, with fifth grade showing a higher rate than the upper grades. English language arts proficiency is similarly modest, with no single grade level reaching a third of students meeting the bar. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, is even lower. When placed against other schools in Maricopa County, Dysart Middle School’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile, a position parents may want to investigate further by asking the school about its academic supports and intervention strategies. The available trend data, which covers only a single recent year, is too limited to establish a clear direction of change.

The school does not serve high school grades, so it has no graduation rate to evaluate. Similarly, data on chronic absenteeism, special education services, English learner supports, and discipline are not available in the provided information. A parent curious about these areas would need to reach out to the school directly or review its state report card.

Dysart Middle School is a regular public school, not a charter, and information on magnet or Title I status was not included. The district’s recent reconfiguration shifted which campuses serve which grade levels, meaning that a student’s pathway through the district has changed in recent years, and feeder patterns are now different than they were before the 2021-2022 school year. Families should confirm which elementary school feeds into Dysart and which high school their child would attend afterward. The district’s rebranding does not change the instructional program, but it signals a strategic shift that some families may wish to understand.

For a parent considering this school, the picture is one of a large, diverse middle school in a growing outer suburb, where academic performance on state assessments is well below the county midpoint. The school’s grade band means that it is a transitional point before high school, and the district’s recent structural changes add a layer of complexity to planning a child’s educational path. Families who value strong academic outcomes may want to look closely at the school’s curriculum, tutoring programs, and any efforts to raise proficiency in the core subjects. The school’s setting in a community with an industrial and logistics-oriented economy, where housing is relatively affordable by state standards, may appeal to those seeking a less expensive entry point into the Phoenix area.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 30% · ▲ 12 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 33% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 27% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 37% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 46% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 50% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 51% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 43% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 42% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

This schoolDysart Unified District (4243), 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.