Circle Cross K8 Stem Academy, San Tan Valley AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Circle Cross K8 Stem Academy

Circle Cross K8 STEM Academy is a regular public school in the Florence Unified School District, serving kindergarten through eighth grade in San Tan Valley. The school’s name signals a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math, and it operates within a district that publicly emphasizes educational choice, open enrollment, one-to-one technology, and career and technical education pathways.

San Tan Valley itself is a fast-growing, car-dependent bedroom community about an hour southeast of Phoenix. It is unincorporated, with no traditional downtown or civic core; subdivisions, strip retail, and school campuses are spread across the area. A 2025 vote to incorporate San Tan Valley as a municipality has passed, marking a transition toward city government. The community draws many residents who commute to the Phoenix metro area for work, and its housing stock tilts toward family neighborhoods, golf communities, and age-restricted developments. Median home values in the broader area have softened slightly over the past year, though they remain above the national median, and the local unemployment rate is near the national average.

Circle Cross’s enrollment is diverse. The student body includes a mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds, with white students and Hispanic students together making up the large majority, and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, Native American, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. No data was available on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, or on the percentages of students with disabilities or English learners. A parent interested in those support structures would need to ask the school directly.

On state assessments for the 2024-25 school year, proficiency rates varied by grade and subject. In math, the share of students scoring proficient fell across the grades, from a moderate level in third grade to much lower levels in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. In English language arts, proficiency rates were also low across the board; no grade exceeded roughly a third of students meeting the bar, and third grade was the weakest. In science, where testing occurs only in fifth and eighth grades, the results were similar, with about a third of fifth graders and a quarter of eighth graders reaching proficiency. When stacked against other districts in Pinal County, Circle Cross’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the county’s districts.

Because the school serves only kindergarten through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The academic trend data shows results for the most recent single year only, so it is not yet possible to see a multi-year pattern.

The school does not operate as a charter or magnet, and no information was provided on Title I status, discipline rates, course access, or staffing ratios. Those are meaningful gaps for a family trying to gauge the full environment, and a parent may want to follow up with the school for specifics.

For a family considering Circle Cross, the picture is one of a mid-sized STEM-themed school in a fast-growing suburban setting, with a student population that is broadly diverse but where state test results, particularly in the upper grades, point to academic challenges that are below the county average. A family whose priority is a STEM focus in a commuter suburb with expanding housing and a newly incorporating town may find the fit right. A family looking for a school with strong proficiency numbers or a rich set of publicly documented supports will want to investigate further.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 28% · ▲ 16 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 26% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 22% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 19% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 14% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 15% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 318%

School 18% · District 23% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 19% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 22% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 27% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 30% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 22% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 20% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

This schoolFlorence Unified School District (4437), 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.