The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Jr High School
Highland Jr High School serves seventh and eighth graders in the southeastern part of Mesa, operating as a regular public school within the Gilbert Unified District. It is a junior high school, not a full middle school in the sense of including grade six—the reported enrollment shows only grades seven and eight, with a student body of roughly that size for a two-grade junior high. The school sits in a sprawling suburban context, part of a city that is among the largest in Arizona, with a mix of residential tracts, commercial corridors, and aerospace nodes.
Academically, the school’s state assessment results place its overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades above the midpoint relative to the many districts in Maricopa County. That is a meaningful signal: for a school in a large, diverse county with a wide range of performance, being above the midpoint suggests solid, not extraordinary, outcomes. In math, roughly half of seventh graders and the same share of eighth graders met the proficiency bar. In English language arts, the picture is stronger, with a clear majority of students in both grades scoring proficient. Science, tested in eighth grade, finds about half of students proficient. These numbers indicate a school where a parent can expect a decent chance of on-grade performance, particularly in reading and writing, while math may be an area where some students need additional support.
The student body is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic share—roughly a quarter of enrollment—and smaller proportions of students who are Asian, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or of two or more races. Data on students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, students with disabilities, and English learners are not available in the record. That absence means a parent cannot assess the level of socioeconomic diversity or the scale of targeted supports without asking the school directly.
The community context is important for understanding the school’s environment. Mesa is an auto-oriented suburban city that has grown rapidly for decades, with older neighborhoods in the west and continuing eastward expansion. The area around the school is likely shaped by that pattern: wide arterial roads, single-family homes, and strip commercial. Housing values in the immediate zip code area are elevated, well above the state median and also above the national median, making this a relatively high-cost part of the metro area. Rents follow a similar pattern, suggesting that families living here are generally in a stable to affluent housing market, though affordability relative to income is stretched compared to national norms.
The school is part of Gilbert Unified District, which has faced a significant financial headwind. In late 2023, district voters rejected a maintenance and operations budget override for the third consecutive election, and also turned down a bond request for facility upgrades and technology. As a result, the district implemented budget reductions for the following school year, including eliminating some teaching positions through attrition and cutting discretionary budgets at school sites. This means that Highland Jr High, like other schools in the district, is operating under tighter fiscal constraints than in the past. Class sizes may be larger, and school-level resources for supplies, electives, or enrichment may be thinner than a parent might expect in a district with a higher local funding base. The district has also adopted a five-year strategic plan emphasizing student success, safe schools, employee excellence, and family engagement, but the gap between those goals and the funding reality is something a parent would want to understand by speaking with the school principal or attending a school board meeting.
For a family evaluating Highland Jr High, the academic picture is one of a school that performs above the midpoint among a large county’s districts, with ELA as a relative strength. The student body composition reflects the surrounding area’s demographics. The school’s setting in a large, growing, car-dependent suburb offers amenities but also presents a real financial picture for the district that may affect day-to-day operations. Missing data on student support populations and discipline or attendance patterns leaves gaps that only direct inquiry can fill.
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