The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 35% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Elementary School
Longfellow Elementary School serves students in prekindergarten through grade six and is part of the Mesa Unified District, the largest school district in this sprawling suburban city. The school sits in Mesa, a massive auto-oriented city of hundreds of thousands of residents that stretches east from the Tempe border for many miles. The immediate area around Longfellow Hall—the name echoes the poet—is a neighborhood of single-family homes and strip commercial along wide arterial roads, typical of the older West Mesa grid. Downtown Mesa, with its arts center, light rail terminus, and a cluster of local businesses, is a short drive away. The city itself is defined by aerospace manufacturing at Boeing’s Falcon Field facility, large employers in healthcare and retail, and a population that has grown steadily through suburban expansion.
Longfellow is a regular public school with a sizable enrollment for an elementary campus. Its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of white students and very small numbers of Black, Asian, Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. The data did not include the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, nor did it report the percentage of students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these support populations.
State assessment results for the most recent school year show that in math, proficiency rates for third and fourth graders were below the midpoint in a district that, when placed among the many other districts across Maricopa County, falls below the middle of the pack for overall proficiency. The fifth and sixth grade math results were suppressed, so trend information for the full school is incomplete. In English language arts, third and fourth grade proficiency also sat below the midpoint, with fifth and sixth grade results suppressed. A multi-year trend, though it includes only a single year of comparable data, shows that the combined ELA proficiency rate across all tested grades was below the midpoint, and the combined math rate was similarly situated. The one reported grade-level science result for fifth grade was suppressed. Overall, the proficiency picture across the school places it below the midpoint relative to districts in Maricopa County.
Because Longfellow serves only through grade six, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not offer high school programs such as Advanced Placement or career and technical pathways, so those are not relevant here. Similarly, there were no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing. The district brief did not identify any recent changes or strategic priorities for Mesa Unified that would affect Longfellow, so none are mentioned here.
The housing context in the surrounding area reflects a market where home values are above the national median, with rents that are slightly above the typical mortgage payment for a median-priced home. The broader economic environment is one of moderate unemployment and a relatively stable rental cost index.
A parent considering Longfellow Elementary should know that the school serves a diverse student population in a large, car-dependent suburban city with a substantial industrial and aerospace employment base. The academic proficiency data available, primarily for the lower elementary grades, indicates that the school is below the midpoint of county districts in both math and reading. The absence of data for the upper elementary grades, for English learner and special education populations, and for student discipline and attendance makes it difficult to get a complete picture from published metrics alone; a family would want to speak with the school directly about student supports and the full range of academic experience. The school is a standard elementary program within a very large district, and its location in Mesa means access to the city’s parks, library branches, light rail, and cultural amenities, all while navigating a landscape built around driving.
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