The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in Math. The lowest is 23% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Holmes Elementary School
Holmes Elementary School serves students from preschool through sixth grade as a regular public school in the Mesa Unified District, one of Arizona’s largest school systems. The school enrolls a sizable student body for an elementary campus, drawing from the surrounding neighborhood in Mesa, a sprawling suburban city that is among the fastest-growing in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The student population is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of students who are white, Black, Indigenous, or Asian. The school does not have publicly reported data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on the number of students receiving special education services or designated as English learners. This gap in data means a parent cannot directly assess the concentration of economic disadvantage or the level of specialized support from the figures on the page, something the school or district may be able to clarify directly.
Academically, the picture comes primarily from Arizona’s AASA and AzSci assessments from the 2024-25 school year, though the available results are partial. For fourth-grade math, the reported proficiency rate was moderate. In sixth-grade English language arts, proficiency was lower. Results for third-grade math and English language arts, fourth- and fifth-grade English language arts, fifth- and sixth-grade math, and fifth-grade science were all suppressed, meaning the state did not release them, often because of small group sizes or other reporting thresholds. Overall, when you look across all tested subjects and grades for which a rate was reported, the combined proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile when compared with other schools within Maricopa County. The multi-year academic trend shows only a single year of data (2024-25) for both English language arts and math at the all-students level, so there is no basis for judging whether performance is improving or declining. A parent may want to ask the school what additional measures or internal assessments they use to track student growth.
The housing market around the school is expensive relative to the national median, with an estimated monthly mortgage well above the typical rent, reflecting the high home values in this part of Mesa. The rent-to-income ratio nationally suggests that renting is more affordable than buying in this market. Mesa itself is a large, heavily auto-oriented city of more than half a million residents, stretching from older, denser West Mesa through newer suburban tracts in the east. Major employers include Boeing, Banner Health, and the school district itself. The city offers a downtown core with the Mesa Arts Center and light rail connections to Tempe and Phoenix, but most daily life requires driving. The Mesa Unified District did not report any recent significant changes in its operations or leadership that would affect Holmes Elementary directly.
Because Holmes Elementary does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school’s civil rights and discipline data were also missing from the available record, so there is no publicly reported information about disciplinary patterns or equity across student groups. The school’s program offerings were similarly absent, leaving a parent to learn directly from the school about any special programs, after-school activities, or academic supports.
In short, Holmes Elementary is a large, diverse elementary school in a fast-growing suburban district where academic proficiency on state tests has been comparatively low in the subjects and grades that could be reported, with much of the data suppressed and no trend line available. The neighborhood is an expensive housing market in a car-dependent city. Families considering this school will likely want to visit, ask about student progress monitoring and support services, and find out what programs and resources are in place that are not reflected in the incomplete state data.
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