The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Science. The lowest is 28% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Harris Elementary School
Harris Elementary School serves students from preschool through sixth grade in Mesa, part of the Gilbert Unified District. The school is located in the older, denser western side of Mesa, a sprawling suburban city that is among the largest in Arizona. Mesa’s character is heavily auto-oriented, with wide arterial roads, strip commercial corridors, and residential tracts extending over a large area. The neighborhood around the school, near the intersection of Broadway Road and Signal Butte Road, is composed of single-family homes and is a short drive from the US 60 freeway. The housing market in the school’s immediate ZIP code shows home values and rents that are in line with the broader Phoenix metro area, though both have softened recently. For a family considering this area, the school sits within a large district that has faced significant financial pressure.
The Gilbert Unified District has operated without voter-approved budget overrides for several years. A recent attempt to pass a maintenance and operations override failed for the third consecutive time, as did a bond request for school renovations and technology. In response, the district cut discretionary budgets at school sites and eliminated some teaching positions through attrition. These fiscal constraints are a lasting context for all schools in the district and may affect class sizes and school-level resources. The district did adopt a five-year strategic plan focused on student success, school safety, employee excellence, and family engagement, though the plan’s implementation is unfolding against this backdrop of limited funding.
Harris Elementary is a regular public school. The student body is diverse. The largest group of students identifies as Hispanic, followed by White students, with smaller shares of Black, multiracial, Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Asian students. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch was not available in the data, nor were counts of students with disabilities or English learners.
On state assessments for the most recent school year, Harris’s results were mixed, and on the whole, below average when compared with other schools in Maricopa County. In mathematics, proficiency rates were reported for third, fifth, and sixth grades, while the fourth-grade result was suppressed, meaning it wasn’t released. For the grades with data, the share of students meeting proficiency was roughly a quarter to a third. Reading and English language arts results followed a similar pattern. Science results for fifth grade showed about a third of students meeting proficiency. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, placed it below the midpoint when compared with other districts in the county.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available, so it is not possible to assess attendance patterns from the provided information. Information on course offerings, including gifted programs, arts, or intervention services, was not included in the data. A parent would need to contact the school directly or visit its website for details on what academic and enrichment programs are offered.
For families weighing this school, the key factors are the large, financially strained district context and the below-average state test results. The school serves a diverse student body in a heavily suburban part of Mesa where auto travel is the norm. The district’s ongoing budget constraints are publicly known and may be a point to discuss with the school principal or at a school board meeting.
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