The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 42%.
Original Research by School Decision on John R Davis School
John R. Davis School is a public elementary and middle school in South Phoenix, a neighborhood within one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Roosevelt Elementary District. The school sits in a part of Phoenix that sits within a large, car-oriented urban grid, and the surrounding housing market carries home values that are in line with what is typical nationally, with rents having risen modestly.
The school’s enrollment is modest for a PK-8 campus, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common indicator of household income in school data. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and operates as a neighborhood school within the district. No data was available on the school’s gifted programs, arts offerings, or any specialized academic pathways, nor was there information about the number of English learners or students with disabilities on campus. A family interested in how these programs compare to other schools in the area would need to ask the school or the district directly.
The available academic data from state testing is limited. Arizona’s state test results for many grade levels and subjects were suppressed, meaning the state did not publicly release a proficiency rate for those groups, often due to small group sizes. The results that were reported came from the seventh and eighth grade English language arts tests, where proficiency rates fell below the midpoint for a school. The state’s multi-year trend data, which uses a different methodology and is not directly comparable to the single-year grade-level results, suggests that overall proficiency across all grades in math was notably low, while English language arts was also low. Because most grade-level and subject-area results are suppressed, it is not possible to say with confidence how the school performed in math, science, or in the earlier elementary grades. A parent should consider that the lack of visible data may itself be a signal to contact the school for more details.
The school was not applicable for a graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades. No chronic absenteeism data was available, and no discipline data was reported. The neighborhood comparison placed the school’s overall proficiency index slightly above the midpoint when compared to other districts across Maricopa County. That is a single composite measure, and it is based on a limited set of reported scores. The district itself appears to have no major recent changes to report; a search for parent-relevant district updates came up empty, leaving the district’s recent trajectory unclear.
This is a school where the publicly reported academic picture is thin. A family considering John R. Davis should treat the missing data not as a neutral blank but as a reason to ask pointed questions. Does the school use a particular curriculum or instructional model? What supports are in place for students who are behind grade level? How does the school engage families who live in the neighborhood? The answers to those questions will matter more than the limited test scores on the page, because the available measurements do not give a full or confident account of the learning environment. For a family that values a local neighborhood school in a growing urban area and is willing to do the work of investigating the classroom experience directly, this school could be a viable option if the fit matches what they find.
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