Taft Elementary School, Mesa AZ - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Taft Elementary School

Taft Elementary School, serving prekindergarten through sixth grade in Mesa, is a regular public school within the Mesa Unified District. It sits in the eastern portion of a large, sprawling suburban city that has seen sustained growth pushing ever farther east. The school itself draws from a residential area where the housing market carries a value considerably above the state average, though rents in the area have been rising more sharply than nationally, a point any family considering a move here should weigh.

The student body is diverse. A majority of students are Hispanic, with a large white population and small shares of Black, multiracial, Asian, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The school serves all elementary grades, including prekindergarten, which can be a factor for families seeking early childhood programming within a single campus.

When it comes to academic performance as measured by state assessments, the picture is mixed. In English language arts, the share of students reaching proficiency varied notably by grade level in the most recent testing year. Fourth graders and sixth graders showed the highest proficiency in the school, while third graders and fifth graders posted lower results. In math, the pattern was similarly uneven, with third graders performing strongest and proficiency declining in each successive grade, leaving sixth graders with the lowest math results. In fifth-grade science, proficiency was low. Compared to other elementary schools across Maricopa County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly to understand how the school supports students as they move into the upper elementary grades where math results dipped.

One important gap in the available information is that data on the share of students with disabilities and the share of English learners was not provided. These are factors that can shape a school's instructional approach and resource allocation, and families for whom these are relevant should ask the school directly. Also absent from the data were any details about discipline rates, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism, so a prospective parent would want to ask about classroom environment and student support structures firsthand. The district itself does not appear to have recently published any major changes or strategic priorities that would affect this school, based on available public reporting.

Program offerings were not detailed in the information provided. For a school serving only elementary grades, the curriculum typically centers on core academics, though families may want to check whether there are specials such as art, music, physical education, or any enrichment programs.

The surrounding community is overwhelmingly auto-oriented, with wide streets and strip commercial development defining most neighborhoods. The downtown core, several miles to the west, offers a walkable concentration of cultural venues and dining, but for daily life around Taft, driving is the norm. The city is a major employment center with aerospace, healthcare, retail, and education as anchor industries, and the area's steady eastward development means new housing continues to be built nearby.

For a family, Taft Elementary represents a large suburban elementary school in a growing part of a large city. The housing is expensive relative to the state, and the school's performance numbers are below the county median. Any parent considering Taft should prioritize a conversation with the principal or a visit to the school to get a feel for the learning environment and to ask about the patterns in math achievement across grades.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 19% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 24% · ▲ 20 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 15% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 13% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 17% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 27% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 19% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 43% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 33% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

This schoolMesa Unified District (4235), same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.