Original Research by School Decision on Globe High School
Globe High School serves as the comprehensive public high school for Globe, a small historic mining town in Gila County. It is a regular school within the Globe Unified District, drawing students from the town and surrounding areas. The school’s enrollment is modest for a high school serving grades nine through twelve. The student body is notably diverse, with roughly equal representation from students who identify as Hispanic, white, and American Indian or Alaska Native, plus a small number of students of other backgrounds. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, receiving special education services, or learning English was not available in the data reviewed.
The town of Globe itself is a county seat with an economy still anchored by copper mining, government functions, tourism, and some retail and healthcare services. Its downtown core along Broad Street is walkable and contains historic commercial buildings, antique shops, and restaurants, but the broader community is car-dependent, especially for travel to the nearby town of Miami. The population has been slowly declining, and recent civic attention has focused on infrastructure recovery from flooding. Housing values in the area sit well below state and national benchmarks, making it a more affordable market relative to much of Arizona.
Academically, the picture is limited. The only state assessment results available are for English language arts, and they show that a relatively low share of students met the proficient standard in the most recent testing year. Results for math and science were not reported in the data we examined. The school’s graduation rate and chronic absenteeism rate were also absent from the information we had, so a parent cannot get a complete sense of student outcomes from this data alone. Because these gaps exist, a family considering Globe High School would want to ask the school directly about its graduation rates, college and career readiness measures, and performance in subjects beyond English.
The school’s program offerings, such as Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, or career and technical education courses, were not documented in the data available. The district brief did not turn up any recent major changes, referenda, or curriculum shifts that would affect what a new student might experience. There is no comparison data placing this school against others in Gila County, because the proficiency and outcome metrics that would allow that comparison were not applicable or missing at the school level.
What can be said is that Globe High School is a small, regular public high school in a community with a strong sense of place, a mining and government history, and a slowly shrinking population. The student body is racially and ethnically mixed, which may appeal to families who value diversity. The academic results, though sparse, suggest that the school faces challenges in reaching proficiency benchmarks in English language arts. Without additional data on other subjects, graduation, and attendance, a parent cannot draw a full picture from this review alone and would benefit from visiting the school and speaking with administrators about student support and post-graduation pathways.
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