Madison Elementary School, Mesa AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Madison Elementary School

Madison Elementary School is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Mesa, part of the Mesa Unified District. Mesa is a large, sprawling suburban city, the third-largest in Arizona, stretching over a wide area of residential tracts, commercial corridors, and aerospace and manufacturing nodes. The city is overwhelmingly auto-oriented, with wide arterial roads and strip commercial shaping the daily experience, though downtown Mesa offers a walkable core with the Mesa Arts Center, local shops, and breweries. The school is located in the eastern part of the city, which is newer and more suburban, and it sits within a grid of single-family neighborhoods and shopping centers. The school itself has a modest enrollment for its grade band, drawing a student body that is roughly evenly split between Hispanic and white students, with small shares of students who are American Indian, Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or of two or more races. Data on economic disadvantage, such as free or reduced-price meal eligibility, was not available.

On state assessments, the school’s academic performance shows a mixed picture that parents will want to examine grade by grade. In math, the share of students meeting proficiency rises from a low level in third grade to a stronger point in fifth grade, then drops again in sixth grade. In English language arts, proficiency is lowest in third grade and climbs to a moderate level in fourth and fifth grades before settling back in sixth grade. A single year of science results for fifth graders is available and shows a relatively modest proficiency rate. The overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades places the school below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Maricopa County. Because this is a single school within a larger district, the comparison reflects the school’s performance relative to the average of all districts in the county, not a direct ranking among individual schools. The multi-year trend data shows only a single year of results, so there is no basis for assessing whether performance is improving or declining.

A parent should note that data was not available on several common measures of school environment and support. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, and student-teacher ratios was not reported here. Similarly, no data on special education or English learner populations was available. A family interested in those dimensions would need to seek them out directly from the school or district.

The housing market in the area around the school shows home values near the national median, with rents also near the national average, but both have seen modest declines in the past year. The broader Mesa economy is anchored by major employers including Boeing, Banner Health, and Mesa Public Schools, and the region has experienced sustained population growth, particularly in the eastern portions of the city where this school is located. No recent district-level changes or initiatives were found in public sources, so it is not possible to describe any active shifts in programming or leadership at the district level.

For a family considering Madison Elementary, the key takeaway is a school where academic proficiency varies notably by grade and subject, with some grades showing stronger results and others where a parent may want to understand more about the instructional approach and support available. The school serves a diverse student body in a large, car-dependent suburban city, and the absence of data on discipline, attendance, and special populations means those factors are not part of this picture.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

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

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 24% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 15% · ▲ 53 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 13% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 17% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 27% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 19% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 43% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 33% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 12 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.