The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 37% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Traditional Academy at Bellair
Traditional Academy at Bellair is a regular public school in the Deer Valley Unified District, serving students from preschool through sixth grade. The school’s name signals an academic approach, and the enrollment of slightly over two hundred students makes it a small elementary school. The student body is broadly reflective of the surrounding north Glendale area: just over half of students are white, about a third are Hispanic, and smaller shares are Black, Asian, American Indian, or multiracial. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the economic composition of the student population.
On state assessments, Traditional Academy at Bellair posts results that place it in the top quartile among districts in Maricopa County for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. That is a positive signal for a school of its size. The math results show a school where most students are meeting the proficiency benchmark in grades three through six, with the strongest showing in fourth grade and the softest in third grade. English language arts proficiency runs somewhat lower: just over half of third graders and a similar share of fourth graders scored proficient, while sixth graders posted a stronger result. Fifth-grade English language arts data was suppressed for reporting reasons, and on the fifth-grade science assessment, a modest share of students reached proficiency. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around how literacy is supported as students move through the early grades and how science instruction is delivered in the upper elementary years. The multi-year trend data covers only one year, so there is no basis for judging whether performance is improving or declining.
Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is not a charter, and its status as a magnet school or Title I school was not specified in the available data. The absence of data on discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance means that a parent cannot draw any conclusions about student support or school climate from the information presented here. The district brief flagged no recent changes in the Deer Valley Unified District that would be directly relevant to a parent considering this school.
Glendale is a large suburban city bordering Phoenix, with residential neighborhoods, shopping centers, sports and entertainment venues, and industrial employers. The school is located in a residential area of north Glendale. Housing values in the school’s zip code are above the state benchmark, though they have declined slightly over the past year, and rental prices have also edged downward. The national median household income sits near a level that makes the area moderately expensive for renters. The unemployment rate is in a range that is historically low. Glendale’s growth has been steady, and the city has a mix of older established neighborhoods and newer development in the western part of the city near the Sports and Entertainment District.
Traditional Academy at Bellair is a small, neighborhood elementary school with above-average test performance in math and mixed English language arts results, set in the Deer Valley district of north Glendale. For a family that places a premium on a school with a strong math record and a small student body, this school warrants a closer look. A parent will want to investigate how the school supports students who are not yet meeting the proficiency benchmark in reading, what its approach is to science instruction in the later elementary years, and what the school’s day-to-day environment is like, since that information is not available in the data provided.
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